Sat. 3rd – Sat. 17th September
HOURS: UNTIL Sun. 11th incl. 2 – 7pm, daily; other times by prior arrangement.
FROM Mon. 12th, please ring to fix a time
Pre-View Fri. 2nd Sept. 6 – 9pm
Special Final Sunday Opening 18th Sept. 11am – 2pm
After being made redundant from his job as an architect in 1992, NEIL HARDY turned his hand to automata. His models feature animals almost exclusively; their trademark surreal labels (a nod to the cartoonist Gary Larson and, more distantly, Glen Baxter) have visual punchlines exposed by the turn of a handle. Most of the mechanisms are complex (Neil acknowledges the echoes of Emett), often with pauses in the motion-cycle, setting up humour-expectations for the operator! As well as trans-continentally, his work has been shown at "The First" since 2008 (in September Already?) and each of our Xmas Shows), and we wish we’d recorded all the sounds of delight it generates. Do come along and add your own!
We look forward to welcoming you.
Images are a selection of each automatist's range: currently we don't know if these designs will be exhibited
 Bat — before developing fangs and branching out into movies, the vampire bat had a hard time scaring anyone (NH) |  Camel — only when it was sure it was completely alone would the camel reveal its secret survival pack (NH) |
 Elephant — the rarely seen Blue Elephant defends itself from its arch-enemy, the mouse (NH) |  Blue (PL) |
 Circus (PL) |  [image of audience a detail of the main piece]. Their heads move, "following" the trapeze artists. |
 The Old Man and the Sea (PL) (Get hooked on automata, like Peter did… ) | |