Preparations for new work

Over the last couple of days I was sort of an industrialised woodworm: drilling 10000 holes into two boards. As Stefan quickly calculated all these holes amount to a length of about 100 metres. No wonder I had to change the drill bit from time to time.

Wordscape

Wordscape

Working towards The Hepworth Wakefield
Wakefield Art Gallery commissions: Wordscape

WORDSCAPE was on display at Wakefield Art Gallery from November 2007 until March 2009 when the gallery closed due to its imminent move to The Hepworth Wakefield:

"After nearly 75 years at its current location, Wakefield Art Gallery will close to the public on Sunday 29th March 2009.

The building on Wentworth Terrace is to be replaced by The Hepworth Wakefield, a new purpose - built Gallery on the historic Wakefield Waterfront designed by the award-winning architect David Chipperfield."

This project was supported by the Arts Council England.

Proposal

Proposal for site-specific work in a Gallery in Sheffield (December 2008): Two pieces related to light. Their proportions will respond to the dimensions and character of the bright ground floor Main-gallery space. The titles are working titles.


Split: grey and white Viscose gimp threads form a sort of wall. Sections of the threads are cut away and replaced by invisible thread splitting the "wall" into two pieces.



Floating Red is made of suspended brilliant red Mohair threads which form a floating brick shaped body.


The big window of the main gallery faces (south-)west and is almost square: 2m x 2m. This is the warm and sunny side (if there is a sun shining...). Another smaller window towards the sculpture garden faces (north-)east - the shadier side - and is about 0.75m x 1.9m.

Close-up screen

It's done.
In a strange way the polyester thread and the fringes at the right edge remind me of the water- foam and the threaded polystyrene I observed at the start of the On Spurn residency a year ago (see post of 7 April '08).

Threaded screen / part three

Nearly there - learning by doing.

Threaded screen / first part

Ready to go. The challenge is to keep the density and tension of the threads evenly. Also, the material is extremly slippery and difficult to knot.

Warp for close-up screen

The screen will be made of a shiny white polyester embroidery thread, 60 tpi (threads per inch).

It's happened again: the miracle that hundreds of fine threads (1300), one after the other, found their place on the loom, the tool to organize this all. Sometime while handling the warp it all looks very muddled...but then it worked again.

Close-up screen

A 1:1 outline of the screen for projections of close-ups. While working on this I realize that the shape of the screen isn't only 'defined' by the proportions of the image (video). The waves back then in August '08 came from east, so they move from left to right in the image. The shape of the screen has to go with this movement.

Humber Mouth

I received a Humber Mouth special commission 2009 award to show one or the other of the FR-AGILE screens at the literature festival in Hull in June this year. This is wonderful because now I can start to complete the screens in full size.

Sounding

A site-specific installation commissioned by FRINGEMK 2009. Sounding will be displayed in Midsummer Place in Milton Keynes from September '09.

Midsummer-Place is a building approximately 20 m high featuring a wave form roof which spans a concourse of about 60m x 90m between the old and new part of the shopping centre. Daylight enters through five skylights of about 4m x 20m and through the two glass façades towards Midsummer Boulevard. The roof is supported by 48 crossbeams which rest on two rows of pillars, six to support the low part of the roof and six for the high part. A couple of trees and the odd bird join the congregation of shoppers among the cafes and food stores within the building.

Once inside the building it is difficult to grasp the vastness of the space. The huge volume above the retail area is filled with light and air but there is little to guide the eye. I was surprised to find that each of the 52 tiny looking glass panels which compose one single skylight must be about 1m x 1.5m. The following proposal relates to the height of Midsummer Place and to the way light illuminates it.

SOUNDING
Material: royal blue man-made string with a silky sheen
Dimensions: One or two bands, approx. 30 - 40m x 1.8m (1 fathom)

Near the west entrance one or two threaded bands will span between high points of the skylight and roof supports, similar to stretches of warp taken from a loom. The bands will twist slightly while keeping their width of one fathom from top to bottom. Sounding fathoms out the height of the space and ‘puts it into perspective’.

Sounding will be composed of man-made thread which captures and reflects the light. Depending on the onlookers position the shade, shape and transparency of the piece will change.

Seascape projection @ Cupola

Over the past couple of weeks I've been glued more or less to my desk writing proposals and applications. And now I really look forward to making something real!

Possibly one of the Fr-Agile screens will have a home for one month at Cupola Gallery in Sheffield next July. Below is a plan how it will sit in the space.

View from projector fixed underneath ceiling

Looking back

On a more quiet note, Jo and I have been to Spurn to say good bye for now.