A Ripple in Time

6 Jul 2024-23 Feb 2025

Overview

A Ripple in Time invites us to reflect on our shared past and contemplate the threads that connect us through the philosophy of Dub. 

Artist Gary Stewart spent four months researching in the Richmond Borough Art Collection. He describes his archival exploration as an ‘excavation’ intertwining history and modernity.  

His research comes together in our space with remixed sonic elements, original narration, multi-channel video work, vintage objects and artworks from the collection. Like a Dub musician who mixes multiple tracks on a turntable, there are multiple timelines layered together in the space – the history of the British Empire, the history of Western music and the history of sound playback technology. The artist’s practice engages with Dub as a mode of creating, and this layering is Dub in action. 

According to Stewart, ‘A lot of my practice is based on establishing the framework of a linear timeline and then mixing it up so that you can create dialogues between different time periods. What would happen if you had someone listening to a cello in the 18th century in the gallery’s Octagon Room having a conversation with somebody today who’s interested in contemporary folk music?’ 

A Ripple in Time is open until February 2025. We invite you to explore, reflect, play, and become a dub experimenter yourself. The exhibition will never stay the same. We each bring our own ideas, memories, opinions, analyses, and emotions to the space. 

About Gary Stewart  

Gary Stewart is an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of sound, moving image and computational creativity. His work examines social and political issues of identity, culture, and technology. Through the application of innovative technologies and practices he is part of a global network of collaborators who are advocates for equality, climate justice and better health through the arts, especially those from marginalised communities. Operating through a range of theoretical, fictional, and artistic frames, his work traverses media art, experimental music, and research. 

Gary Stewart is a founding member with Trevor Mathison of the London-based artist group Dubmorphology whose work over the last two decades has emerged from their direct response to different sites and environment that frequently incorporate historical and contemporary material and content reworking historical, political and scientific archives.