Catrin Davies and Lewis Wright / Adam Ferriss / David Frame / Chloe Manasseh / Janneke Van Leeuwen
Curated by James Harper and Louis Palliser-Ames

External Machines investigated the tension between ideas of constriction and relief, whether they be theoretical, physical, self-imposed or out of necessity. This was explored in a variety of disciplines including sculpture, print, photography and digital works. This group show brought together artists from a vast array of backgrounds, all exploring similar notions from diverse perspectives.

In most of what we do, our environment’s inner workings are hidden away, obfuscated, or indecipherable without expert knowledge. When thinking about the spaces that we inhabit, where are the contraption, machine and self found aesthetically? External Machines attempted to examine both the physical and psychological effects of interacting with environments that include a myriad of objects that have both observable and graspable functionality, and objects that do not have a level of transparency to the ways in which they operate.

Some of these works have been specifically selected in consideration of their accordance to the exhibition’s theme, whilst others are new works constructed in response to the interior architecture of The Royal Standard.