INTERFACE

REVIEW

Tatton Park Biennial 2010: Framing Identity

Tatton Park, Cheshire
8 May - 26 September

Reviewed by: David Haley »

As we drove through the park, past the sheep and the deer, the rain stopped. At the car park, stables and mansion, we were greeted by signs for 'Debbie and Steve's Wedding'. Not a poster, or a banner for the Tatton Park Biennial 2010. Then my wife spotted some leaflets at an Information kiosk; "Well it must be here somewhere". At the gift shop a very nice lady directed us to the garden entrance and said that if we hurried we might catch the curator's tour. "What a nice surprise," my wife said. Waiting for the tour to start, a small party of us huddled in the Pineapple House and I met some friends who had travelled from London to see this show. We were warmly greeted by Danielle Arnaud and Jordan Kaplan, Parabola, the curators.

This was both my first visit to Tatton Park and to one of their Biennials, so I was keen to see the place itself and consider the potential for art interventions in such a location. As an ecological artist and academic, I was interested to learn of the questions being raised and pursued by this venture. I must, also, confess to harbouring a strong personal dislike for most corporate and civic Public Art, considering it to be socially and ecologically offensive, or absurd and meaningless in an age of environmental, economic and political crises.

It was, however, good to be reminded that one of the functions of art is to entertain, not the sort of bouncy castle or end of the pier entertainment, nor the tick-box, bums on seats, art 'n' ents entertainment, but the intelligent, witty, stimulating kind of entertainment. In addition to the exhibition, there is a full programme of performances, screenings, tours and talks, as well as learning and access activities; all of which seems to be well integrated into a summer season, so I only experienced a small part of the whole.

Of the works I was able to see in the gardens and house, it was interesting to note the responses to this year's theme, 'Framing Identity'. My personal favourite was Ryan Gander's intervention, The 4th Baron Egerton's 16 Plumed Bird of Paradise, gazing from its glass case, through the General Manager's office window, at the vast estate - a faked specimen worthy of Duchamp's praise. And for me the most powerful work was Evacuate by Kate MccGwire, a dramatic installation of feathers from game birds, sweeping into and out of the large black iron cooking range in the kitchen. Here the scale of the work, the detail and symbolism made each visitor catch their breath before reflecting on the lifestyle of those who once lived there.

The mansion is impressive, the park is magnificent and the gardens are spectacular, so it is very difficult to meet the scale and the expectation of these surroundings. Most of the works did hold their own, even the setting for the performance of The Visitation by David Burrows and Simon O'Sullivan/Plastique Fantastique.

For me, 'Framing Identity' refers to the way art frames things and in our society is most often self-referential - "Art like Art" (Allan Kaprow). It may also refer to the way "heritage freezes history" (Conrad Atkinson) at a conveniently marketable moment. The obvious connection here is to Neville Gabie's A Weight of Ice Carried from the North for You. This large lump of ice, transported, Fitzcaraldo-style from Greenland to the lakeside at Tatton, is now, paradoxically 'framed' through the use of highly visible solar panels and heat exchange technology. This was one of two works that touch on issues of sustainability, and none really engaged 'ecology', or this landscape. The idea of framing identity remained firmly in the popular cultural industries notion of 'site-specific' and 'place-making'. All were about the artists will imposed on a site to transform it into a place of meaning, thereby denying the intrinsic value of the place itself. Of course, the whole of the Tatton Park estate is one large artefact, but over time it has matured to evolve as some kind of ecosystem - as Tatton's previous show, by artist-in-residence Christine Wilcox-Baker, was focused on exploring.

Some of the great virtues of this arts festival are the curator's will to work fluidly, take risks and in particular to introduce young talent. Among them, Austin Houldsworth's sculpture 2 Million & 1AD holds its place among the vast area of greenhouses. The work teases the exhibition theme as visitors pump specially sedimented water around a closed system of large plastic tanks and pipes to literally petrify a pheasant and a pineapple.

There are several shed artworks that vary from an 'X' rated trip in the woods, Rough Cut/Cut Rough (Hiker Meat) by Jamie Shovlin, to a 'trip' of another kind by the lake, Spiegelei by Jem Finer, to a poignant dysfunctional, dystopian tree house, This time next year things are going to be different by Fiona Curran.

While Annika Eriksson's film The Last Lord, in The Smallest Cinema in the World, cleverly uses footage from the North West Film Archive to expand on the life of Maurice Egerton (the fourth and last Baron of Tatton), and much of the museum tableau of life at Tatton Park focuses on his hobbies - photography, filmmaking, aviation and the wonderful Pitt Rivers-style room of Kenyan artefacts, there are few references to the previous inhabitants and how they came to own such a magnificent home. Strange that these connections were not explored by the artists, or maybe I missed something?

I was deeply moved by the simple power of Spring Fever, by Native American sculptor Jimmie Durham that refers to us all as "BP's kind of people". A simple small compound of six primary coloured, leaking oil drums, fenced-off by orange plastic mesh, the work is placed on site, but 'out of sight' of the mansion. So, as many artists try to remove the oil-stains from our institutions of art, we must remember to keep the discourse plastic, the materials biodegradable and our hands clean.

The very well produced catalogue is a must-buy, as it includes some of the artists' proposals, commissioned written works and generally emerges into another very rich layer of creativity. As a whole, at Tatton Park, the exhibition was well worth a day out and because it is almost impossible to see everything, it's worth a second visit. The curators were delightful, and told us lots of good anecdotes that expressed their passion and enjoyment, and really added to the experience. They seem to be working diligently to build capacity for collaboration over their three-event term, and mentioned Tatton's General Manager, Brendon Flanagan, as being particularly constructive, but I couldn't help but feel some tension between this event and the vast programme presented by The National Trust, Cheshire East Council, The Royal Horticultural Society and others who lay claim to Tatton Park. Perhaps, this is part of the process of integration - introducing a new family member? As Arts Council England, The National Trust and other august institutions move closer together to present a united cultural estate in the face of recession, one wonders how the visitor profiles and the nation's aesthetic will shift.

As we were leaving Tatton Park, guests were arriving for Debbie and Steve's wedding reception. I hope their future is bright, and that the 2012 Tatton Park Biennial is as enjoyable.

Venue detail:
Tatton Park Biennial »
Tatton Park, Knutsford WA16 6QN

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