Sophie Mei Birkin, swamp under observation, 2022, 30 x 65 x 65 cm, Tapioca, pigment, sea moss, abalone shells, glass wax, starch, oyster shells, pearls, probiotics, perspex, baby oil, LEDs
TALK: Materialisms — Contemporary Sculpture Panel Discussion
Recording of a panel discussion, led by Chris Fite-Wassilak, which took Christina Mackie’s exhibition Material Reality as its point of departure. Invited artists Emii Alrai and Sophie Mei Birkin shared their sculptural practices, in which materials are transformed into forms that engage planetary processes, human time, and natural cycles. Across their work, substances such as Jesmonite, seaweed, hair gel, agar, and paracetamol are active participants in making meaning. How does meaning emerge through the specific properties of these materials — their textures, temporalities, and instabilities — and through their encounter with the viewer. The discussion also considered how artists draw on intersecting disciplines, including history, archaeology, and science, to shape their approaches and expand the critical and conceptual possibilities of sculpture today.
BIOGRAPHIES
Chris Fite-Wassilak is a writer and critic, author of Ha-Ha Crystal (Copy Press, 2016) and The Artist in Time (Herbert Press, 2020), an Associate Editor at ArtReview and Associate Lecturer on the MA Writing at the Royal College of Art.
Emii Alrai lives and works in the UK. Solo exhibitions include Capture, The Towner Eastbourne, 2025; River of Black Stone, Compton Verney, UK, 2025; A Lake as Great as its Bones, Maximillian William, London, UK, 2024; Lithics, Quench Gallery, Margate, UK, 2024; A Core of Scar, The Hepworth Wakefield & iniva, Wakefield, UK, 2022; and Reverse Defence, Workplace Foundation, Newcastle, UK, 2022. Previous group exhibitions include Fragment & Form, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds 2025, Déjà Vu, Bold Tendencies, London, 2025, Ceramics Friends: 5th Virginia McClure Ceramic Biennale, McClure Gallery, Montréal, Canada 2024; A Permanent Departure for Nostalgia, A Rehearsal on Legacy with Zaha Hadid, Contemporary Arts Centre, Cincinnati, USA, 2023; and And the Mirrors are Many, Warehouse 421, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2022. Alrai was the 2025 recipient of the Assetto Fellowship at the Warburg Institute and was artist-in-residence at Wysing Arts Centre, UK, 2024. She has undertaken residencies at the Villa Medici, Rome, Italy, 2023; Launchpad LaB, France, 2023; and Triangle Astérides, Marseille, France, 2021.
Sophie Mei Birkin [b.1995, UK] is a London based artist, her multimedia practice explores material interaction and encounters, submergence and the generative potential in the transformation of matter. Working with salt crystals, industrial waste, and organic and synthetic residues, her pieces are formed by processes of dissolution and regeneration, reflecting how substances can provoke psychophysical responses and destabilise the human. Sophie Mei has exhibited and screened work internationally at The Hepworth Wakefield Museum, Museo Nacional de Arte Mexico, The Courtauld Institute, The Split Gallery, Barbican Cinema and The Artist Room Gallery. She is a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts, UAL.
Recording of a panel discussion, led by Chris Fite-Wassilak, which took Christina Mackie’s exhibition Material Reality as its point of departure. Invited artists Emii Alrai and Sophie Mei Birkin shared their sculptural practices, in which materials are transformed into forms that engage planetary processes, human time, and natural cycles. Across their work, substances such as Jesmonite, seaweed, hair gel, agar, and paracetamol are active participants in making meaning. How does meaning emerge through the specific properties of these materials — their textures, temporalities, and instabilities — and through their encounter with the viewer. The discussion also considered how artists draw on intersecting disciplines, including history, archaeology, and science, to shape their approaches and expand the critical and conceptual possibilities of sculpture today.
BIOGRAPHIES
Chris Fite-Wassilak is a writer and critic, author of Ha-Ha Crystal (Copy Press, 2016) and The Artist in Time (Herbert Press, 2020), an Associate Editor at ArtReview and Associate Lecturer on the MA Writing at the Royal College of Art.
Emii Alrai lives and works in the UK. Solo exhibitions include Capture, The Towner Eastbourne, 2025; River of Black Stone, Compton Verney, UK, 2025; A Lake as Great as its Bones, Maximillian William, London, UK, 2024; Lithics, Quench Gallery, Margate, UK, 2024; A Core of Scar, The Hepworth Wakefield & iniva, Wakefield, UK, 2022; and Reverse Defence, Workplace Foundation, Newcastle, UK, 2022. Previous group exhibitions include Fragment & Form, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds 2025, Déjà Vu, Bold Tendencies, London, 2025, Ceramics Friends: 5th Virginia McClure Ceramic Biennale, McClure Gallery, Montréal, Canada 2024; A Permanent Departure for Nostalgia, A Rehearsal on Legacy with Zaha Hadid, Contemporary Arts Centre, Cincinnati, USA, 2023; and And the Mirrors are Many, Warehouse 421, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2022. Alrai was the 2025 recipient of the Assetto Fellowship at the Warburg Institute and was artist-in-residence at Wysing Arts Centre, UK, 2024. She has undertaken residencies at the Villa Medici, Rome, Italy, 2023; Launchpad LaB, France, 2023; and Triangle Astérides, Marseille, France, 2021.
Sophie Mei Birkin [b.1995, UK] is a London based artist, her multimedia practice explores material interaction and encounters, submergence and the generative potential in the transformation of matter. Working with salt crystals, industrial waste, and organic and synthetic residues, her pieces are formed by processes of dissolution and regeneration, reflecting how substances can provoke psychophysical responses and destabilise the human. Sophie Mei has exhibited and screened work internationally at The Hepworth Wakefield Museum, Museo Nacional de Arte Mexico, The Courtauld Institute, The Split Gallery, Barbican Cinema and The Artist Room Gallery. She is a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts, UAL.
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