SYSTEMS.BRICKS.HANDS

SYSTEMS.BRICKS.HANDS is a group exhibition by emerging artists Arien Barley, Felix McClafferty and Matilda Power. Across three installations, the artists investigate the symbiotic processes of production, transformation and erosion within cities, information systems, and culture. The exhibition is supported by the release of an original publication alongside a programme of workshops, supplementary work, performances and artist talks (see below).

The three room-scale works center the brick as both a material and conceptual frame. Architectural feedback loops, mathematical models, material histories, nostalgia and geological movements are living threads tethered and interwoven through the works: The Inside of a Closed Box, 24 Times (McClafferty, 2025), System Portrait 08/10/2026 (Barley, 2026), and Get a Grip! (Power, 2026)

Felix McClafferty describes the exhibition:

“The exhibition opens with Get a Grip!, clay impressions of a clenched fist suspended in a broken grid. They can be touched and held, leaving a dusty residue of drying material on the hand- the echo of repeated action and collective effort. A mass of wet clay, integrated with a participatory performance, sits at the centre and is scraped away. Squeezed. Tapped. The forms of bricks emerge and piece by piece a city grows across the floor.

Onwards into the dark now, and the ticking of a strobe light. On a circular plinth sits a henge: 24 plaster monoliths, moving and breathing like a living, liquid coral. The mesmerising echoes of iteration materialised in plaster: The Inside of a Closed Box, 24 Times. As they swell and contract they scream- a grinding, pulsing sound like the crunching of tectonic plates, the rumbling of a city street. A locked groove on an impossible record, cold and rhythmic.

And finally, an array of cuboid blocks span the space, their surfaces illuminated with a forest of pixels, System Portrait. A dynamic system of disjointed voices murmur and meander in the dark, fragments of recognisable stories disconnected from context. A drone strike, housing costs, disgraced politicians. Feeding back into a cascade. And as they fall into chaos, the forest burns until there are no more trees left, and the voices . dissolve into a perpetual rhythmic symphony

It’s an expansive yet cohesive exploration of what it is to be subject to the processes of the hyper-reality that humanity has built for ourselves. Being warped, stretched, and overwhelmed in symbiosis with this strange physical and cultural environment.”

The exhibition will see the release of There Is A City, an accompanying original publication featuring images, essays, research material and original writing by the artists.

The artists will also be featuring a series of extracurricular activities on the night of the private view, and throughout the week.

Fri 9 (6pm-11pm)
Private view
Brickmaking Workshop (Power)
Artist Discussion
Chillout DJ set(s)

Sat 10 - open (10am-10pm)
Workshops & performances
System Portrait 08/10/2026 Improvisation (Barley)
Performance: Walking Title (McClafferty)
Closed Box Improvisation (McClafferty)
Brick Making Workshop (Power)
Group Discussion / Artist Q&A

Sun 11 - open (10am-10pm)
Film screening (evening)

Mon 12 - open (12pm - 6:30pm)

Tues 13- open (12pm-6:30pm)