Surgere

‘to spring up or rise’ Surgere (Latin) refers to a great sudden growth or swelling.

Created as a new installation as part of ‘A Fine Toothed Comb’ –  curated by Turner Prize-winning artist Lubaina Himid. Bringing together new commissions by Himid as well as artists Magda Stawarska, Rebecca Chesney and Tracy Hill.

A Fine Toothed Comb will centre on unearthing hidden layers within the city of Manchester.

Considering the geological importance of subterranean rivers present below Manchester, this new site responsive drawing explores how the walking body experiences unseen energy transmitted from below the streets of Manchester City centre.

The culverts of Manchester are well known but beyond these lie areas of ‘Black Water’ and ‘Centre Points’, these are static bodies of water and dynamic crossing points of freshwater springs, lying deep below the city, each generating their own magnetic energy.

Reimagined in carbon, Surgere follows a dowsed spring line running over 100 meters within the bedrock below the gallery and through the city. This imagined flow is intended to reveal and speak directly to the imperceptible energies, which underscore our human experience but, which often exceed our ability to capture or represent them.

Resonance patterns created from unheard sound captured during dowsing inform this unique gallery drawing. Moving across the wall and floor as a series of connected carbon lines, it visualises vibrations, rhythms and waves weaving and colliding in an imaginary flow.

Implicitly Surgere connects the permeability of the landscapes with the porousness of the human body. This points to relationship between person and place, an inevitable interchange of molecules and energies, each leaving an impression on the other, exploring how the world is held together in terms of energy, forces, and form.