From the head to the heath and back again.
The Inner Space Exploration Unit walks in two directions at once.
Taking its cue from the alchemical and transformative legacies of Surrealism, particularly its perambulatory and cartographic trajectories, the ISEU’s work could be described as a group ascent of Mount Analogue. Each artist seeks the keys to the personal landscapes that the mediumship of the group brings into view. Moving through physical and psychic space, the group also attempts a return voyage, bringing, by way of a ‘veritable occultation’ of conscious intent and an openness to the sphere of the synchronistic, spirit presences back into this world.
To date, two interconnected ISEU projects have been made public.
ISEU GAZETTEER
The ISEU Gazetteer is a document of the unit’s first phase, 2020-2022. It is an anthology of linked and entangled texts, images and symbols that presents some of the working arising from our initial period of psychogeographic map-making.
The Gazetteer has been formulated from imaginary explorations, unsettled evocations and localised roaming in our walled yet boundless spaces. The texts and works included are variously influenced by places of particular architectural or social interest, local histories and folklore, walking and tourist guides. Each ISEU traveller has navigated their own route into this house on the border lands, but shared signposts, sonic surveys, archival resources and the serendipitous have opened corridors where our paths cross.
This Gazetteer is a record of our findings, a field report; a portfolio of individual accounts and, at the same time, a latent directory that indicates where the points converge. It is intended as an aid for touring by both the casual and more purposeful visitor.
To download a PDF copy, please click on the link.
THE ONCE AND FUTURE ARCHIVE.
Between 20th and 29th April 2022, the ISEU made manifest at Project Space 1, Plymouth College of Art. This collaborative exhibition offered an introduction to the unit. It featured contributions from all six members. It also marked the public launch of the ISEU Gazetteer.