Pile- Exhibition curated by Craig Fisher

This enquiry extends previous investigations exploring the relation between pattern, decoration and formalist abstraction, addressing painting’s capacity to establish a ‘visual pulse’, enabling a re-interpretation of both a previous painting and a body of new paintings/drawings. The work was selected for a comprehensive sculpture exhibition that questions the conventions of group exhibitions. Ways in which painting’s autonomy is examined through display and proximity to the work of others are explored. Mother in Law’s Tongue, a three-panelled painting on domestic door blanks, connected floor and wall – both siting and object/image address the boundary between painting and sculpture. The hierarchy of fine art over decorative arts is challenged: the painting used as a device on which to hang the work of another artist, risking that the work might be seen as a decorative prop. Previous research using repetition and difference as a means to invoke a visual pulse in painting was re-visited in a new body of paintings on paper, continuing investigations of relations between internal mark-making, in relation to frame, size and scale, and parameters of substrate. The project restricts colour to its constitute subtractive primaries (magenta, yellow, and cyan), which then enables the exploration of a set of permutations and combinations. The resulting paintings are constructed through a repetitive process, engaging the viewer in the rhythm and craft of production, producing a hypnotic quality, making the work seem more ‘alive’ than the methodical nature of production might suggest. The slippage between systematic abstraction and pattern suggests an in-between space, uncertain and open to interpretation. Earlier stages of this research include: a group exhibition Trick of Light, Primo Alonso Gallery, London, 2010, curated by Juan Bolivar; and two chapbooks in the series Transmission Hospitality (London: Artwords, 2010, 2011) – from the second, a visual and textual dialogue with the artist Jane Harris, the saturated works above developed

Curated Issue: Cultural Works—Transitions and Dislocations, Introduction

Introduction to the curated issue of PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, Cultural Works—Transitions and Dislocations. Some parts of this introduction contain material previously published in my review of Silvia Spitta's Misplaced Objects: Migrating Collections and Recollections in Europe and the Americas (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009), in The Comparatist, 34 (May 2010), pp. 201–7

Photography in the Mix: Flora-Fauna-Photo

The article examines the SF Camerawork exhibition Agitate: Negotiating the Photographic Process, which was co-curated by the author

Southern African Treatment Resistance Network (SATuRN) RegaDB HIV drug resistance and clinical management database: supporting patient management, surveillance and research in southern Africa

Substantial amounts of data have been generated from patient management and academic exercises designed to better understand the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic and design interventions to control it. A number of specialized databases have been designed to manage huge data sets from HIV cohort, vaccine, host genomic and drug resistance studies. Besides databases from cohort studies, most of the online databases contain limited curated data and are thus sequence repositories. HIV drug resistance has been shown to have a great potential to derail the progress made thus far through antiretroviral therapy. Thus, a lot of resources have been invested in generating drug resistance data for patient management and surveillance purposes. Unfortunately, most of the data currently available relate to subtype B even though >60% of the epidemic is caused by HIV-1 subtype C. A consortium of clinicians, scientists, public health experts and policy markers working in southern Africa came together and formed a network, the Southern African Treatment and Resistance Network (SATuRN), with the aim of increasing curated HIV-1 subtype C and tuberculosis drug resistance data. This article describes the HIV-1 data curation process using the SATuRN Rega database. The data curation is a manual and time-consuming process done by clinical, laboratory and data curation specialists. Access to the highly curated data sets is through applications that are reviewed by the SATuRN executive committee. Examples of research outputs from the analysis of the curated data include trends in the level of transmitted drug resistance in South Africa, analysis of the levels of acquired resistance among patients failing therapy and factors associated with the absence of genotypic evidence of drug resistance among patients failing therapy. All these studies have been important for informing first- and second-line therapy. This database is a free password-protected open source database available on www.bioafrica.net

From a Distance

An exhibition of very large scale documentary photographs of the Elephant and Castle exhibited at London College of Communication. From a Distance was a commission given to photographer Paul Reas to respond to the regeneration of the Elephant and Castle in south London. Paul Reas was chosen for his track record of personal, socially committed documentary work. From a Distance forms part of the Elephant Vanishes project, a long-term documentation of the changes facing this area. The exhibition was curated by Patrick Sutherland and Paul Reas and co-curated by Monica Takvam and the accompanying catalogue (Fieldstudy 16) was edited by Patrick Sutherland and Monica Takvam, with a commissioned essay by Giles Fraser, the Guardian's "Loose Canon" columnist. Installation shots by Monica Takvam

Still Small Voice

Curated Exhibitio

Inscriptions: drawing, making, thinking

‘Inscription: drawing, making, thinking’ brought together the work of David Conneam, Philip Eglin and Charlotte Hodes, it included drawings, ceramics, moving image and evidence of their working process. The exhibition was curated as part of the Jerwood Visual Arts Encounters series