placing work in a church…
At St Lukes, where I work anyway, I could print out and mount some interpretation for the venues. The reality of placing one piece of work in each venue is here!
With a set of six paintings, or a dvd on a domestic screen, its one thing. Both these formats fit in well, they are at least a form that the non-arts audience can relate to – and I think the two spaces so far are good.
Jil Moore’s glass triptych is being placed in the church. I found a small old drop leaf table which Jil wanted to use, as people would have to stoop a little to examine the works. The objects are made up of found glass elements; bowls, jars and ornaments which together create a kind of futuristic architectural model. Inside these transparent constructions are found translucent photographs showing images of individuals during the rush hour. In one piece, a small boy with his rucksack is contained in a small glass bubble, floating in water. As condensation gathers in the container a micro climate is formed and the boy is carried around the bowl imperceptibly. The work stands on a mirror tile surface, reflecting the viewer and creating light and reflections. It’s a piece that demands close examination. Yet from the entrance to the church it looks like part of the church furniture – some sort of chalice or over-sized holy water containers sitting together in a cluster, part of some ancient religious ceremony. It was an unexpected result of placing this work here.
Rachel, someone who attends St Lukes Art Project (one of my other projects) liked the work – when I talked about what the idea behind it was, she said “Yeah, its really good – but only some people who might think about things in that way, you know, being part of something bigger, but a lot of people just go to town and do their shopping”
