Valerie Grove Artist

SUITCASE PROJECTS

MOVE (With)OUT - 2013-16

Organised by the curatorial collective 'Something Human', Move (With) Out was a nomadic project that emerged from an international group exhibition in the Brockspace in 2012. This exhibition featured three re-packed Baggage Claim suitcases. A full review of this show is on the blog: With(Out) At the Brockspace

Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove

After the exhibition I was asked to 'distill' the project into a large, old fashioned travelling trunk.  Then from 2013-16, the trunk travelled to 10 different international destinations. Its contents were altered slightly with each stop and there were performances and events built around each city where it was shown. The project has its own dedicated blog: Move (With) Out
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
BAGGAGE CLAIM - 2009

‘Baggage Claim’ iwas an installation for the E17 Art Trail 2009. It consisted of multiple suitcases placed around the Vestry House Museum Garden. At this time I had recently returned to the UK after 2 years in the United Arab Emirates. This followed on from previous periods living in Jerusalem (1993-95) and Japan (1985-91). So I was reconnecting with my own past and culture while remaining linked to a globalised culture very much reflected in the population of E17.

Items unpacked from storage, along with more recent acquisitions and observations on being back ‘At Home’, provided each suitcase in this installation with very different content. Although this content had specific meaning to me, no explanation accompanied the work. This gave audiences the freedom to interpret each suitcase in their own way.

SKELETON PROJECTS


Team MSK - 2012

Team MSK was part of Survival of the Fittesta group show held during the London 2012 Olympics at the Waterworks, Lea Valley Park.  It was a simple and fun way of demonstrating the literal bones and sinews of sporting achievement while also drawing awareness to the necessity of health and fitness in general. 

Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
  
Man Machine - 2011

Man Machine was an immersive installation that looked at the sedentary and technology-dependent reality of contemporary life and its impact on the individual, both physically and mentally.  Featuring paintings, sabotaged posters, a skeleton, a laptop and an 'interactive' wall it was a disturbing work that explored the complex dynamics of the new mind-body-machine relationship. To try and give a sense of the narrative of this project, images are placed in the order that the audience would have viewed the room. All images enlarge when clicked.

 The project was part of the E17 Art Trail 2011. There is an really good review of the show on the E17 Art Trail Blog.  

Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
Valerie grove
Valerie grove
Valerie Grove
Tim Vine

THE TOWERS OF TRASH PROJECTS
​2008-10

Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
The Towers of Trash, representing some of Dubai's iconic buidings were created in Dubai in 2008. They  were featured in the Creek Art Fair of that year. 
Valerie Grove
The towers then went to Abu Dhabi as part of the Land Change, Art and the Environment exhibition where they were shown in tandem with two 'recycled' paintings

For a review of this show with images from all artists involved click on the link below: 


Valerie Grove
Valerie Grove
The final incarnation of  th Towers of Trash represented Canary Wharf. These were shown in 2010 as part of: the group exhibition: 'Oh...I do like to be beside the Lea' at the Waterworks in Walthamstow, East London.