Jessie Birkett uses reclaimed wood to build sculptural and functional contraptions. Their manually-operated machines spin pottery or play strings. They explore tool-making as a way of honouring the recursive and regenerative nature of the material. Each work is an ever-evolving prototype. The material is just passing through, on its way to becoming something else.

Birkett’s practice is grounded in an emphasis on process, skill-sharing and learning. They aim for discovery over perfectionism, and allow experiments, developments and inconsistencies to remain a part of the whole. Prototype to prototype, material is cannibalised and components are reused. Often exhibited at multiple stages, works appear to grow organically into bodies which vibrate, breathe, groan and dance.

This parallel to the human body invites a consideration of the animate and inanimate, agential and passive. Informed by New Materialism, their practice engages with temporality, as pieces are deconstructed and reconstructed. Unsealed wood can respond to atmospheric changes in moisture by shrinking or expanding. Joints can seize and components can be damaged in use. Birkett’s approach considers a reciprocal relationship between artist and material, which requires collaboration and maintenance.