The Shelter, facilitated by current student Ellen Yeon Kim, takes place at Main Quad, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, from 3 - 31 March 2014.

The definition of ‘shelter’ inherently has its origin in the acceptance of crisis, partially due to failure in the face of diurnal events. This project aims to investigate the ironic notion of a shelter – the co-existence both of its necessity and its impossibility – as well as the questioning the meaning of having this notion within day-to-day existential struggle we are facing.

The Shelter is temporary space away from communication. On the grounds of its motives and needs, visitors will declare and agree to part with means of communication such as speaking, writing, reading, as well as use of personal electronic devices, sign language, pictogramme, and non-verbal communication involving touch without pre-agreement. Visitors have the freedom to use The Shelter to find their own safety.

Through addressing The Shelter as a non-language space, the recognised crisis here is focused on the failure of communication. However, it is not to posit being asocial or rejecting all communication as an alternative to the social norm. A shelter provides safety from a recognised crisis, yet it cannot perform as an alternative to life itself, and can only act as a temporary safety net. Declaring The Shelter to be a space away from the language is to become reconciled to the critical failure of shelters themselves, rather than to be asocial.

Throughout March, there will be events that hosted by invited contributors from different fields. Contributors will conduct event/workshops within the shelter and offer their interpretations of the status of the shelter the visitors. Throughout these events, following as well as protesting against the rules of the game and exploring its potentials/hopes, despite and in respect of critical limitation, attempts will be made to find new modes of communication that can be explored beyond the temporary safety.

Contributors

Rebecca Bligh (Writer/Editor, based in London UK)
Joe Davies (Artist, based in London UK)
Andrew de Freitas (Artist, based in Frankfurt DE)
Sholto Dobie (Artist, based in London UK)
Patrick Furness (Artist, based in London UK)
Daniel Jacoby (Artist, based in Amsterdam NL)
Dan Kwon (based in Seoul KR and Frankfurt DE)
Tamara Kuselman (Artist, based in Amsterdam NL)
Ben Osborn (Composer/Writer, based in London UK)
Nataliya Pankova (Artist, based in London UK)
Filippa Pettersson  (Artist, based in Frankfurt DE and Amsterdam NL)

Further details of contributors and schedule will be announced via the website ( http://theshelter.at)

The Shelter is facilitated by Ellen Yeon Kim (b.1985 lives and works between London and Frankfurt). She has been studying at Byam Shaw School of Art, at Slade School of Art (graduating in 2014), and at Städelschule, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste where she has been studying under Simon Starling(2012-2013) and Peter Fischli(since 2013). Recent exhibitions and events/performances include: Rungdang at HfBK Städelschule in Frankfurt; ỔN ĐỊNH ĐỘNG at Donh Xuan Centre and District Berlin in Berlin, and in Saigon as part of the Simon Starling’s class’s  mobile academy project ; MMK Sunset at Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt; CTM Festival: Festival for Adventurous Music and Art, at HAU 2 in Berlin; uni(psycho) acoustic as part of guest professor Carsten Nicolai’s class at Museum für Moderne Kunst; and Platform 1 at Camden Arts Centre in London. Ellen is also the co-editor of the book ỔN ĐỊNH ĐỘNG: Post-Vietnam Sensation Discourse, and of the first issue of Da Thirst Magazine.

The Shelter is also supported by Alastair Harlow at Yurts up, Jang Ho Hwang and UCL