Open Frequency
Open Frequency is a curated online programme presenting new developments in contemporary art. Selected artists are nominated by key curators, writers and artists from across the UK. Recently profiled Scotland-based artists include Katy Dove, Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan, Camilla Low, Toby Paterson and Hayley Tompkins.
Open Frequency is a programme area of Axis, the arts council funded leading online resource for the contemporary art community.
Glasgow-based artist Margaret Diamond explores her interest in social systems and processes through a broad range of media, from photography, installation and kinetic sculpture to the making of artist books.
|
Her works are idea-led and adopt the appropriate media to suit the concept, working emotionally and intuitively in response to her environment and the everyday situations she encounters. Diamond likes to confound the viewer’s expectations with an element of surprise, encouraging a playful interaction between object and viewer. |
 |
 |
Animating the inert and transcending the boundaries of the expected occur in ‘Quietly Suffering’ (2007) and ‘Formula Driven #5 (Greggs)’ 2007. The former is a kinetic sculpture of dressmaker’s pins which appear to come alive, twisting and pulling themselves in to an irregular pattern of movement symbolising the ebb and flow of invisible connections and relationships.
 |
|
In ‘Formula Driven #5 (Greggs)’, a couple of Greggs pastry steak bakes wander randomly around the gallery floor, powered by internal motors. This is one of a series of works using mundane objects to reflect on consumerism’s role in the transformation of the urban environment and the loss of individuality of our towns and cities. |
The term ‘formula driven’ is business-speak to describe the replication process of chain stores that result in identically cloned stores in high streets, retail parks and shopping centres. Diamond states, ‘The steady increase of Greggs the bakers indicates the popularity of their products with their distinctive logo more frequently seen on high streets and the paper bags which litter our streets’. ‘Formula Driven #1 (Starbucks)’, an earlier version, was a continuously self-stirring mug of coffee, first exhibited in 2006 at the Transmission members show in Glasgow then as an English version at the Groundswell exhibition in Derby.
|
An early work has recently been updated due to its popularity. ‘Highly Strung’, commissioned for Arts Council England in 2003, is sited in the ceiling of their Nottingham office and represents the living organism of a contemporary office system, even incorporating a live mobile phone. A tangled mess of fibre-optic cabling, wiring, telephones and chasing rope lights, the sculpture visualises the hidden information flow and networking structure of the office environment, where its staff are the continuous energy supply. |
|
 |
Biography
Margaret Diamond studied BA (Hons) Photography at the University of Derby (2002). Recent exhibitions include the Transmission Gallery Annual Members Show, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow (2007), 181st RSA Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (2007), Visual Art Scotland Open, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (2007) for which she was awarded the Sally Schofield Memorial Prize, Groundswell Two, University of Derby (2006) and Members Show 2006, Transmission, Glasgow (2006), 6th Street Level Open, Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow (2005).
|
 |
Margaret Diamond is currently showing ‘Formula Driven #5 (Greggs)’ in the first open submission exhibition held at CUBE, Manchester until 25 August 2007. | | |