In House: Ree Bradley and Pete Gomes

2 Apr-25 May 2025

Overview

In House: Ree Bradley and Pete Gomes is the fourth of our series of duo exhibitions organised by and for Studio Voltaire's onsite community of Studio Artists. 

This exhibition asks, "How can you translate the experiential?" Through sound, film and image, the artists seek to translate dynamic and intimate group experiences as they explore alternative ways of being together and inner psychological states through improvisation and somatic practices.

Ree Bradley’s The Mind is a Group Muscle, 2025 explores notions of masculinity through somatic body-based workshops, group discussions and filmmaking. For this project, a group came together to explore alternative body therapy techniques such as Conscious Connected Breathwork, Emotional Freedom Tapping and Dance Movement Psychotherapy. In the face of increasingly stripped-back mental health services, the project aims to speak to the role of masculinity in society outside of talking therapies and through the body. The project’s title is an adaptation of the dancer Yvonne Rainer’s 1968 performance, The Mind is a Muscle. Using 16 mm film, The Mind is a Group Muscle begins conversations between feminist histories of contemporary dance and alternative body therapies designed for trauma exploration and group healing.

Pete Gomes’ Does the river listen to the trees?, 2025 explores states of extended flow during Gomes' attendance of The Grand Gathering hosted by Maggie Nicols - an intimate social environment exploring transdisciplinary improvisatory practices over an extended duration. Gomes translates his experience in relation to the surrounding natural environment, accessing his own inner psychological states and responses in the process. Gomes’ improvises in-camera using analogue techniques, creating the images using an instant photography camera. The projected sequence of these images acts as an experimental score and improvisatory framework for live performances. This version of the work is Gomes’ improvisation using processed flute, Benjolin modular synthesiser and archive recordings.

Ree Bradley
The Mind is a Group Muscle, 2025
16 mm, 10 min

Ree Bradley
The Mind is a Group Muscle, 2025
20 Oil pastel drawings
Each 21 x 29 cm

Pete Gomes
Does the River Listen to the Trees?, 2025
Visual score, 10 mins
Sound various

Pete Gomes
Gatherings 2023/2024, 2025
5 photo sequences

This edition of In House is curated by artists and studio holders Ain Bailey and Alicia Reyes McNamara.