Analogy Loom with Duncan Marquiss at Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016

Deadline for applications to take part in the workshop: Wednesday 22 February

Every concept we have is a tightly packaged bundle of analogies. All we do when we think is to leap from one analogy-bundle to another — and, such leaps are themselves made via analogical connection, to boot. – Douglas Hofstadter

In 1942 the neuroscientist Charles S. Sherrington famously compared the human mind to an ​‘enchanted loom’. In her 1976 installation Text & Commentary the video artist Beryl Korot made an analogy between the threads on her weaving loom and the lines that make up a video image. Taking analogical thinking as its focus, this workshop will use video as a framework for examining the human tendency to draw comparisons and think in metaphors.

Can an analogy be the subject of a film? How might the form and structure of a film mimic its subject matter? Through discussions and practical exercises Analogy Loom will consider how artists and filmmakers use analogies to generate ideas and devise new formal approaches by combining disparate topics, materials and processes.

The workshop will be led by Scottish artist Duncan Marquiss. Marquiss works with the moving image, drawing, writing and music. His practice is often driven by a search for patterns and connections between seemingly unrelated subject areas. He takes these analogies as starting points for process-led artworks that overlap disparate materials and cultural references. Marquiss has exhibited his films internationally, including presentations at the BFI London Film Festival; Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art; and Microscope Gallery, New York. He was the recipient of the Margaret Tait Award 2015/​2016.

Applications are invited from artists, filmmakers and art professionals to participate in Analogy Loom. For further information on how to apply, please click here.

Analogy Loom is hosted by LUX Scotland, British Council and Kochi Biennale Foundation.