Susan Young

Sixth Sense is the sixth instalment of an ongoing collaboration between artist Denise de Cordova, Standpoint Studios and students, as part of the @rcasculpture programme’s annual Festus event.

For the sixth manifestation of this project, Sixth Sense was chosen as a title, giving participating artists the opportunity to explore spiritual, medical and sensory interpretations of the theme.

Medically the sixth sense is considered proprioception, which allows us to keep track of where our limbs are located and where our body parts are in space, without which we could metaphorically fall apart. Another interpretation of sixth sense is synesthesia, a perceptual phenomenon where the stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a secondary sensory pathway.  Spiritually, the sixth sense is the power of perception beyond our five senses, such as intuition, clairvoyance, fear, haunting, and divination. Moreover, as artists the gut feeling we experience once our imagination takes hold of our making and thinking is also a sixth sense, when we instinctively know we are on the right path to something we didn’t know before.

Sixth Sense showcases work in the expanded field of sculpture, produced for the residency by an alliance of sculpture students, tutors and invited artist guests. The alliance formed over a fortnight of workshops, talks and surgeries, enabling the exhibited works to develop in reflection of the theme through the sharing of skills and knowledge.