Horse Power

Bringing International artworks together with locally based artists, HORSE POWER is the first in a series of exhibitions which takes Edge Hill Station, the first passenger railway station in the world, as its influence.  HORSE POWER is a mix of stories, objects, artists, artworks and ideas which relate to the invention of steam powered travel and the impact this had on man’s relationship with nature. 22 works by 17 artists, a Ferrari production video and a stray photograph comprise this exhibition that evolves around the actual and the symbolic power of the horse. Mythology, religion, philosophy, technological history and evolution, and literature are some of the subjects that have been explored in connection to the several dimensions of the horse throughout history.

 

Starting point for this journey is the Edge Hill station. Edge Hill represents the point in history where our perception of borders and distances became blurred, the point in time where horses were replaced by machines in long-distance transport. The day the ‘Rocket’ drew out of Edge Hill station the world became smaller. The development of steam power led to the mechanization of travel and the mass transportation of people, the beginning of passenger travel. The horse as a symbol within this history has an amazing resonance as the first device that enabled man to travel great distances, the main method of transport up until the 1830s and the power through which we still measure the strength and speed of new machines.  Thanks to James Watt and his improvements to the steam engine, technological advancements evolved into the network of pathways which marked the journey from the iron to electric age. HORSE POWER allows us to stop for a minute, in this era of speed, at the landmark of Edge Hill station and ponder on the various images the horse has taken into people’s perception and imagination through the ages, from the mythical, godly form, to the functional, and back again, regaining nowadays its admired status, closing the circle, and thus pointing to the eternal recurrence of things, a central theme in HORSE POWER.

 

^{Curated by International filmmakers and artist-in-residence AL and AL (www.alandal.co.uk) and including works by AL and AL, Anna Benson, Eadweard Muybridge, Iain Andrews, Malcolm Le Grice, Naïve John, and Tim McMillan.  This Biennial Independents exhibition provides a platform for emerging artists and establishes Edge Hill Station as a space for ideas, conversation and invention.}