'…modest and even abject objects are hieroglyphs in whose dark prism social relations lay congealed and in fragments… In this perspective, a thing is never just an object, but a fossil in which a constellation of forces are petrified. Things are never just inert objects, passive items or lifeless shucks, but consist of tensions, forces, hidden powers, all being constantly exchanged.' - Hito Steyerl

Oona Grimes 's long drawing, thing-thing, is part of an exploded book unyoked from a single narrative. It takes the form of a hieroglyphic frieze, using images as language: lost language through the parallel worlds of Alice and Alzheimer sufferers, Lewis Carrol and hallucinations.

James Ireland ’s Epic is made up of three identical outdoor water features with running water and led lights stacked into a display unit to be viewed from four directions. These water features were chosen because they have been built as images, designed to be seen from one direction. They are objects pretending to be images, representing a three-dimensional experience.

In Sophie Lascelles 's installation In the grasslands a 16 mm film projector and a slide projector merge images on to an unfolded cardboard box. Depicting a lone windmill in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, the single image emphasises the relationship between the movement of the windmill blades and the projector shutter and rhythm.

Helen Maurer 's Glass Fountain consists of two drinking glasses placed on top of each other, rotating slowly on a turn-table. They are lit to produce moving drawings on the wall, reminiscent of water, smoke or biological specimens.

William Waterhouse 's mechanical sculpture Bubble endeavours to create an everlasting bubble - a thin arm gently rotates over a metal tube to produce a single bubble that after a certain duration deflates but is soon replaced by a new bubble.

Sarah Woodfine 's sculpture I would do anything for love is a staged assemblage constructed from a steel axe head, MDF and Formica. It incorporates a detailed pencil drawing on paper of a rose flower stem, disconcertingly rambling along the handle of the axe.

The exhibition, as Glass Cat 2 (with the addition of two artists: Ruth Claxton and Tom Woolner), will tour to Wimbledon Space, Wimbledon College of Art, 10 January to 14 February 2014.

Curated by Danielle Arnaud and Sarah Woodfine

All images courtesy of the artist and the gallery, Danielle Arnaud