Faerdom: Now, As Ever
Exhibition audio description guide with transcripts
Section 1 – Utopia
The exhibition is displayed in one u-shaped gallery, divided into three sections. This first section is in a rectangular part of the gallery. There are three walls painted in a glossy pale blue. At one end of the space is an archway with a decorative opening that leads to the next part of the exhibition.
This section is called Utopia. There are artworks in different media mounted on the three walls, each one with a large roman numeral above, applied to the wall with gold leaf.
The works in this section connect the Industrial Revolution that began the 1700s with the digital revolution and its effects today. During the Industrial Revolution, machines changed the economy, quickly displacing handcraft with industrial manufacture. The supporters of these machines promised they would bring efficiency, prosperity and an easier life. Today, similar promises are made about digital technologies: automation, connection and freedom from laborious tasks.
The works on display question whether technology has delivered what it promised. They take inspiration from Industrial Revolution-era ceramics, whose shiny surfaces present industrial progress in neat, romantic scenes. For Fromm Studio, these polished objects resemble the gleaming versions of reality presented by edited social media content. Their works include 3D printed objects inspired by historic decorative arts, animations with elements that look like porcelain, and two giant dogs referencing mass-produced nineteenth-century ceramics.
The Porcelain Wall consists of 19 separate wall-mounted pieces arranged in five rows, forming a triangle with its point towards the top of the wall. The pieces resemble traditional commemorative ceramic plates and figurines in scale and shape, but all are made from the same shiny 3D printed plastic. Their colour shifts from pale ice blue to electric mid-blue depending on where the light falls. I’ll describe key elements from the top down. At the top, a figurine of the Mermaid of Zennor takes a selfie with a phone. In Cornish legend, this creature lures a church singer into the sea. Beneath is a row of three decorative plaques. One bears the words ‘Section 230’, referencing the 1996 law that protects online platforms from being held legally responsible for content posted by their users.
On the next row in the centre is a figurine wearing a long puffa jacket and a crucifix necklace. It recreates an AI-generated image of Pope Francis that was widely circulated in 2023: here, it represents digital misinformation. On either side is a disembodied ear on a decorative stem. Slightly bigger than life size, these ears represent surveillance capitalism: the monetising of people’s data, usually without their knowledge. Each figurine stands on its own small decorative shelf that incorporates references to Hammersmith Bridge. Fromm Studio cross this bridge to reach their studio on most days.
On the bottom row are five plate and plaque-like forms. On the far left, a round plate-like piece has a relief of a decorative rim and an image of an industrial loom in the centre. On the far right is a similar piece with the loom replaced by a server with trailing wires.
Pair of Corgi Dogs. This work is made up of two giant dog sculptures. They each sit on their own wall mounted white shelf with decorative edges inspired by lace doilies. Each dog is about as tall as a kitchen worktop, but they are inspired by Staffordshire dogs, small ceramic figures made from the 19th century to sit on domestic mantlepieces. Staffordshire dogs sit with their bodies facing each other and their heads turned outwards towards their viewer. They form a mirror image of each other. The first Staffordshire dogs were King Charles Spaniels, the favourite breed of the Royal family at the time. These corgis reference the breed of dog owned by King Charles III. They are yellow and white, with wide eyes and their pink tongues poking out. Each one wears a collar with a gold chain and padlock. The corgis are not ceramic, but they have a shiny painted surface that creates a similar effect.
The pair represent the way that technological progress can create nostalgia for earlier times. For Fromm Studio, the current revival of interest in kitsch objects feels like a longing for the handmade and imperfect amid digital precision.
Green Man. This animation is displayed on a screen as large as an average doorway. The base of the screen sits on a low plinth, the top leans back against the wall. On the screen is a yellow and gold archway that looks out onto a blue sky and the Green Man. His face, hands and clothes are shiny and look they’re made from ceramic. His body is slightly diagonal, with his head towards the top-right corner and his feet towards the bottom left corner. He has very pale skin and a grey beard and moustache. His long grey hair is tied in two plaits with pink ribbon. He wears a straw hat with a pink bow, and a jumpsuit made from flowers and leaves. His eyes are closed and he looks peaceful as he floats to the right. Shining seeds bounce off him onto the ground below where flowers are blooming.
The Green Man is a figure from folklore, often represented by a face made from leaves that fan out from his nose. For Fromm Studio he represents connection to the rhythms of nature and offers an alternative to the digital world’s focus on optimisation and self-improvement.
