Are We There Yet? - an exhibition by Lindi Tristram

Saturday 8 July to Friday 25 August 2006 Monday to Saturday 11am to 6pm

As part of its ongoing Homespun exhibition programme, London Printworks Trust presents Are We There Yet? an exhibition by Lindi Tristram, in her first major solo show in London. 

Are We There Yet? brings together for the first time a selection of Tristram’s sculptures alongside a newly commissioned piece of work into iris recognition. Tristram has constructed a photo booth so that exhibition visitors will be able to have their iris photographed and outputted onto their own ID card.

Tristram’s investigations will be will be underpinned by real science, as she is collaborating with the inventor of iris recognition, Professor John Daugman from the Computer Laboratory at Cambridge University. To find out more about iris recognition, click here.

Are We There Yet? comments on the mess we’ve made of our world, and the empty-headedness of many things contemporary society holds dear – celebrity, instant fame and instant wealth.  Are We There Yet? attempts to address Tristram’s concerns by jettisoning some of the cruder aspects of our current cultural life into space, or by leaving the planet altogether to start afresh.

Lindi Tristram’s love of materials shines through in all her work. It is clear that she loves ‘stuff’. Tristram collects obsessively and hordes things at her house and studio. She collects things the rest of us might throw away and, as she does, she acknowledges the extended life she’s able to give even mundane items like tin lids, bottle tops, ice pops, condiment sachets and old wallpaper.  Tristram’s mission is to rescue things from their uselessness.

For Are We There Yet? Tristram beautifully re-constructs these items into time capsules, flying machines and rockets.  They invite us into believing we can leave the planet, and that with a small leap of faith we’ll be able to travel into space, but sadly, like flightless birds, they will never make the journey. In Tristram’s world it appears that the dream of space travel for all is temptingly close, but not in our lifetimes.

Lindi Tristram graduated with 1st class honours from the BA Fine Art at the University of Sunderland in 2002. She has worked extensively for the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, providing technical support to a range of artists including Anthony Gormley, Jane & Louise Wilson and Kiki Smith. Tristram has been involved in a number of selected group shows, most notably at the Waygood Gallery, Newcastle; the Oriel Washington Gallery, Penarth and Flowers East, London. She has also been commissioned by Transco to make a sculpture specifically for Doxford Park, Sunderland.

Are We There Yet? is part of London Printworks Trust’s Homespun programme kindly funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Arts Council England and Lambeth Arts.