Biophilia Artists

Preparations for Biophilia are going well, and we are pleased to introduce 7 contributing artists, each with a diverse practice and a shared passion for the natural world.

Jason Miller
Jean Stevens
Justine Smith
Olivia Huntingford
Rebecca MacPherson
Wren Franklin
Paul Newman.

We'll be releasing a short profile of each artist over the next week, so keep an eye out here for that.

Biophilia opens on the 9 Dec and runs until 11 January, opening times 9am-5pm Mon, tues, weds, sat, and other times by appointment.

We're hosting a private view on Saturday 7th Dec from 6:30pm.

The Old Print Room is in Gillingham, Dorset along the High Street. We're situated behind the Home Company estate agents, which is close to Hardings Lane and the Doctor's Surgery. We hope by the time we open there will be a shiny new sign up to help you find us.

Biophilia submission

We've been excited by the high calibre of submissions coming in for our launch exhibition, Biophilia. 

Our estate agents have been pretty rubbish at responding to problems with the building, which has pushed things back. The deadline has therefore been extended. We'll accept submissions up until the end of 11th November. 

Send web-sized photographs or scans of the original artworks in jpeg form to simon@dorsetframing.co.uk before the 11th of November 2013. Please entitle your submission Biophilia submission and attach your jpeg(s). Short biographies detailing your background, previous exhibitions or publications are welcome in the body of the email. Include your name and contact details and the number of images you are submitting.

If you've landed here after the 11th November, then feel free to try us and send something anyway. We can't guarantee we'll be able to consider anything that arrives after the 11th for the Biophilia exhibition but we might consider it for future exhibitions. 

The preview will be on Saturday 7th December, and the gallery will launch on Monday 9th December. The location will be disclosed soon. 

The Biophilia Hypothesis

Biologist and writer E.O Wilson introduced the Biophilia hypothesis in his book Biophilia, published in 1984. Biophilia literary means "love of living systems." Wilson says that Biophilia can be described as "the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life." Humans have a deep connection with nature that goes beyond cultural influence, Wilson suggests this connection is intrinsic to our biological make-up.

Why are humans are so drawn to the natural world? What does this relationship mean to us and to nature in general?

David Attenborough's success is one marker of how nature enthrals us. Channel 4 recently broadcast a documentary called When Bjork met Attenborough, which looks into the relationship between humans, technology, nature and music. Bjork's album Biophilia explores these ideas both musically and also technologically via various interactive apps. Bjork, like most artists, is heavily influenced by her surroundings, both man-made and natural. 

The Old Print Room is located in Dorset, one of the most bio-diverse counties in the UK, and being situated here we can't help but be influenced by nature. We thought it fitting to launch this new gallery with a show that gets to the heart of what we're about: a fascination with our surroundings, questioning ourselves and our relationship to our environment, pushing at boundaries and exploring new ways of looking at an ancient world.

We are inviting visual artists to respond to the theme of Biophilia. Please view our previous post for details about how to take part. http://theoldprintroom.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/biophilia.html

Biophilia

The Old Print Room gallery and shop will open in early December 2013 and to celebrate our launch we’re accepting submissions of visual art responding to the theme of Biophilia (love of living things – follow this blog to learn more about Biophilia in the coming weeks, we’ll be posting plenty of information and ideas).  Send web-sized photographs or scans of the original artworks in jpeg form to simon@dorsetframing.co.uk before the 1^st of November 2013. Please entitle your submission Biophilia submission and attach your jpeg(s). Short biographies detailing your background, previous exhibitions or publications are welcome in the body of the email. Include your name and contact details and the number of images you are submitting.

Successful artists will be contacted in November. Please make sure the original artwork is available to exhibit throughout December and into January.