First Thursday: Talks from Raw Materials: Plastics resident artist/makers Frances Scott and Peter Marigold

Join us for an afterhours chance to see Raw Materials: Plastics, with exclusive talks from the exhibition’s resident artist makers Peter Marigold and Frances Scott, who will introduce their practice and approach to the project’s commission.

Marigold and Scott have worked alongside the Raw Materials project throughout, looking into the history of plastics in east London and using their findings to inform new work. Helping us unpack this fascinating history, Marigold responds to the early mould-making techniques of inventor – and artist – Alexander Parkes, by making his own wooden moulds and using them to work with 'FORMCard', Marigold's own brand of compostable bio-plastic. Scott exhibits a new film, PHX [X is for Xylonite], which draws upon photogrammetry, as well as laser scanning techniques offered through project partner UCL, in order to develop and animate 3D images of early plastic objects. These are collaged with hand-processed 16mm film footage captured in the laboratories at UCL, and of a recent demolition on the site of the original Parkesine factory in Hackney Wick.

Peter Marigold is a designer and maker of objects. After completing the M.A. Design Products course at the Royal College of Art he established his studio concentrating on a wide variety of objects including furniture, products, interiors and also, now, software. Working with both galleries and manufacturers and arts organisations, his work is exhibited internationally including the MoMA New York, Design Museum Holon (Israel), Victoria and Albert Museum (London) and 21_21 Design Sight (Tokyo). Commissions include projects for Bloomberg, The Museum of Childhood (London), Oyuna (Mongolian Cashmere), Kvadrat (DK) and a porcelain collection for Meissen (Germany). Currently his work has changed in scale and he is working on several large public artworks including the facade of a 188m long wall of a hospital and large 2D murals. Concurrently he is also the creator and director of FORMcard, a meltable bio-plastic product with far reaching applications for everyday situations which was launched on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. He is visiting professor of design and entrepreneurship at London Metropolitan University where he advises on alternative funding models for young designers.    

Frances Scott works with moving image, presented through screenings, installations, events and publications. Her work often considers materials that exist around the periphery of the cinematic production and its apparatus, proposing films composed of their metonymic fragments. Recent exhibitions and screenings include: Het Bos, Antwerp, Belgium [2018]; The Bower, London [2018]; Tate St Ives [2018]; Annely Juda Fine Art / The Russian Club, London [2018]; CloseUp Film Centre, London [2018]; Yorkshire Sculpture Park [2017]; Whitechapel Gallery [2017 and 2015]; Peninsula Arts and South West Film & Television Archive, Plymouth [2017]; Focal Point Gallery, Southend [2016]; and ‘Selected III’ FLAMIN screenings in the UK [2013] and USA [2014] including Anthology Film Archives, New York, Seattle International Film Festival, and LA Film Forum. Frances was recipient of the Stuart Croft Foundation Moving Image Award [2017]. She is currently working on research about the composer, Wendy Carlos, towards her first long-form film commissioned by TACO!

Please note that the gallery will open from 6pm for a chance to view the exhibition, with the talk beginning at 7pm. 

Raw Materials explores the forgotten industrial history of plastic in east London around the River Lea. The exhibition reveals the story of east London's central role in the invention and early development of plastics, showcasing some of the very first plastic objects alongside newly commissioned artwork which tell the story of this material’s remarkable journey. Read more about the exhibition here.    

Raw Materials: Plastics has been made possible through the generous support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the project’s academic partner UCL.

Photo credit: Rob Harris