Liliya Art Gallery is delighted to present A Material World, a group show of
multidisciplinary artists making groundbreaking work through an innovative use of materials. The mediums artists utilise to make their work are often viewed as a secondary, and at times coincidental element of their practice. Inspired by Marshall McLuhan’s 1964 essay ‘The Medium is the Message’, this exhibition highlights the meaning and significance in the materials through which the selected artists choose to communicate.
McLuhan’s essay presents the notion that the medium used to convey information holds as much, if not more, value than the message itself. Following this idea, the medium of the message can have a significant impact on wider society, with the internet seen as the prime example of this, coming to define so much of the world we live and exist in. A Material World will explore both the determinate role materials occupy in an artist's practice, and how the use of these materials signify wider values in contemporary society. Artists were selected for their in-depth consideration of how the materiality of their work can affect the meaning and experience of viewing the work, as well as a utilisation and disruption of the values their selected materials have come to be defined by.