After my recent post about the National Theatre set-build, the story continued...
A few weeks later the phone rang again and this time it was Tate Modern! They are located a bit less than a mile down the river from the National Theatre, and asked if I was interested in building a dry-stone construction as part of an artists review show that they were putting on in the spring. It would be running for a year. Naturally, I said - let's meet and talk!
The brief was to construct a dry stone wall in an alcove that would give the impression of a 'blocked passageway'. The work had been created before in other places but the artists instructions were that it should be created afresh each time with local stone, in a local manner and in a shape to suit the space it was in. The curators decided a rectangular 'doorway' (approx 1m x 2.1m) was the shape needed and they would build me an alcove in an existing internal wall for me to fill with stone. The build date in July meant the National Theatre production up the road would be over and with a bit of coordination the stones from there could be moved to the Tate. I put the two designers in touch to see if that could happen. The only problem was that the quantity was calculated to be barely enough; so the Tate reached out to the original reclaim yard and got an extra crate delivered.
The prepared space
Turning up on site for the the first day was a bit exciting for me (and them I think!) - I had the room where the wall going to myself, because it was obviously going to create dust and bits of stone chips spinning around. The rest of the curatorial team were in adjacent rooms hanging / re-creating other works by the same artist and dropped in see progress occasionally.
Day 1 progress
I thought it would take three days, but in the end it took four. I think the sight and sound of me breaking up stones was a bit unnerving for some of the staff – everybody else was handing objects with extreme care! But I wanted to fill the space to back of the cavity with hearting to make it solid. Everyone was really supportive and I ate in the staff canteen with them.
Nearly there.
The show opened a few weeks later ('Jannis Kounellis' – Artist Rooms) and, according to the staff, the wall is proving to be popular with visitors. The staff keep asking people not to touch it! It is often photographed. Visiting is free to and it runs until June 2024. If you happen to be in London feel free to drop in!
The finished wall.