Simon Martin: UR Feeling, Camden Arts Centre

British artist Simon Martin returns to Camden Arts Centre with a new film based on a quote from the architect Peter Eisenman in conversation with critic Charles Jencks. In this passage Eisenman is referring to the redevelopment of Santiago de Compostela's crumbling historic city centre:
'They will feel in the alleyways something, but it’s not quite medieval and it’s not quite modern. It’s something else. In other words, my whole idea of affect is that you experience something, you feel something, you see something, but you can’t quite explain it. It has an Ur-dimension to it… something between understanding and not, let’s say.’
Camden Arts Centre, London exhibition 2015
For the first time Martin uses performers in the film UR Feeling, rather than objects, to discuss this feeling between understanding and not, and the built environment. A gloomy atmosphere forms the heart of the video where two individuals improvise a response to Martin's commands, set to the sound track of a lyre discovered in the ancient site of Santiago de Compostela.This haunting film takes a leap from the Simon Martin 2012 exhibition at Camden Arts Centre with the same title, where the artist gathered together a selection of objects and images from artists and designers including Ettore Sottsass, Scott Burton and Stephen Shore. We can also see UR Feeling as the third part in a trilogy.The first, Carlton (2006), questioned how we understand objects by their representations, while Simon Martin's Louis Ghost Chair (2011) examined how objects participate in the social world. Unlike these past works, UR Feeling does not have a commentary.
If you are looking for things to do in Camden, this radical new contemporary art exhibition should be on your list.