Stryx's Aly and Sophie recently collaborated on a project in collaboration with Eastside Projects (ESP), and the MFI Group. With the briefs of 'Void', and 'Cats'.
In response to 'Void', Aly and Sophie were intrigued by
incomprehensibility of envisioning a physical void, as doing so would
destroy the void's inherent characteristic of being unattached from an
outside, and infinite in size.
Through the vision of the absolute
nothing - that is, before creation - and the absolute infinite of the
universe we live in. Sophie and Aly illustrate the battle between
science and religion, which help people explain the great phenomenon of
our origins within the universe and beyond; can one exist without the
other?
Cats
Patty Cake is a viral sensation on the internet, which shows humans
casting their imagination on their cats by giving them voices and
personalities that are akin to human behaviour. The forms and shapes
created by the cats playing 'patty cake' are reminiscent of Egyptian
hieroglyphics, which mirrors the current explosion of cat-culture as
having a religious following. Furthermore, by projecting human
behaiviour onto cats, it is not hard to see that people perceive cats as
a 'blank canvas' due to the cats famous mysterious nature. Therefore,
cats are a suitable medium for people to attempt to give meaning and
personality to, as artists would an inanimate object.
Stryx artists Sophie Bullock and Karolina Korupczynska have been busy making work for new exhibition 'Invasion'. It looks to be a really exciting event with over 40 artists making a momentary invasion of an abandoned building in the jewellery quarter.
Karolina will be showing her degree show work, 'The Innate Fluidty of Personal Expansion', where Sophie will be showing new work (which does not currently have a title!!).
If you around Birmingham Friday at around 5, please do drop by at:
Sorry for being slightly off the radar lately. We've been so busy with forms and applications and all of the boring stuff that we've had no time to update you! So here it goes....
We move into our building on the 24th September, and we'd love to invite you all to see the space there and then, but we want to make it a little bit special for you all. So, we're currently working on a date in October to invite you all into our space, have a chat, see what we're all working on and let you know about what we have planned for the future. We're so excited to let you all in!
Stryx's Sophie was in the Minerva Works building yesterday to visit Grand Union, and pined at the window of Unit 13.... Stryx!
Here's a little sneak preview of the space we're inhabiting, a beautiful blank canvas to put our mark on!!
So we'd absolutely love to have you all come to our opening night, we'll give you all the necessary details as soon as we know.
Other contenders for the prize were Artsbetos, Blancmange and Fraternity. Regrettabley, these did not make the cut. However, after a fairly long-winded search, our solution turned out to be simple.
We are located in the Minerva Works building on Fazeley Street, Birmingham. So after a quick Wikipedia search we found our Goddess, Minerva:
1. "Minerva (Etruscan: Menrva) was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic."
Great bit of mythological history coming from our new location. See below for a further clue to how we continued on our trail of research...
2. "She is often depicted with her sacred creature, an owl usually named as the "owl of Minerva",which symbolizes her ties to wisdom."
3. And StrixStryx is the ancient Roman and Greek word for owl. Voila!
[After some further investigation we have just discovered that in folklore, the Stryx was a bird of ill-omen that fed on flesh and blood. oh...]
Stryx is an artist led studio and exhibition space in Digbeth, Birmingham. Stryx is active in developing high quality exhibitions, developing individual and collaborative practice, and encouraging inclusion and access for the public, families and the community through free workshops and practical sessions.
Formed by six female graduates of Fine Art from Birmingham City University, 2012, Stryx's joint ambitions are to continue developing their art with the ever-growing cultural wealth of Birmingham, and maintaining support for artists internally and externally by creating an accessible community of practice.
