diversion  

 

1 July to 31 August 2002

at the Museum of Garden History, Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1   www.museumgardenhistory.org

Twenty-three artists have been invited to take part in an exhibition using the material available in the museum (displays, archives, horticultural history). Following their own practice, the artists will intervene within the idiosyncratic surroundings of the museum and garden, using video, projection, glass, installation, photography and plants.

Suky Best   Ellen Bigge   Clare Bryan   Annie Cattrell   Lisa Cheung   David Cotterrell   Edith Dekyndt
Peter Dukes   Judith Frost   Dan Howard-Birt   Theo Kaccoufa   Sophie Lascelles   Laura Malacart
Charlie Murphy   Sbastien Reuz   Alex Sandover   Kate Scrivener Finlay Taylor   Adam Thompson
Shane Waltener   Jakob Wegener   Laura White   Emma Woffenden

Following their own practice, the 23 artists present new work drawing from the contents and commenting on the role and specific location of the Museum of Garden History.

In the museum itself the artists will, whenever possible, integrate their work within the displays.

David Cotterrell will install his new video Shangrila in a vitrine.  The work celebrates the suburban 1930s housing highlighting the creativity, flamboyance and quiet struggle of the owners to assert their identity within the rigidly defined parameters of the mass-produced terraced houses and gardens.  The video is accompanied by a new composition by the musician and composer Jim Copperthwaite.  The whole installation will serve as an extension to the history of the archetypal English garden.

 Lisa Cheung has chosen a selection of epitaphs, found on the surrounding tombs, to inscribe on the inside of the museum tea cups.

For the last few months, Finlay Taylor has been working on an artists book together with the common garden snails.  Through his patient guidance, the snails have been drawing and writing, their latent presence implied by pulped edges and silvery deposits.

Several artists work with glass: Emma Woffenden will hang her glass ringing bells above the large font; echoing the museum display, Annie Cattrell will present a selection of anodyne objects; Charlie Murphy will recreate the Linnaeus frieze of the sexual life of plants.

In the garden, One Minute to Love is an ambitious installation by Theo Kaccoufa.  Using nature with humour and poetry, Theo will startle visitors by making one of the garden trees rotate unexpectedly.  Dan Howard-Birt is an artist who has revived floral carpet bedding.  His installation, Sundays and Public Holidays, is inspired by the discovery that John Tradescant the elder, botanist and plant hunter, possessed no sense of smell.

Adam Thompson has designed a series of flags depicting extinct flowers.  One of them will be hoisted on the church tower at half-mast.

On Saturday 20 July at 3 pm, David Cotterrell, Peter Dukes and James Putman from the British Museum will discuss the issues raised when introducing contemporary art in the specific context of the museum.

This exhibition is part of the Vauxhall Festival and is supported by Lambeth Riverside Partnership.                                          

The Museum of Garden History is situated in St. Mary-at-Lambeth, Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 next to Lambeth Palace and Lambeth Bridge.  The Museum is open every day from 10:30 am to 5 pm (voluntary admission charge 2-50, concessions 2-00).

 

Suky Best Wildlife Documentary #4 Flora  2002 video still

Clare Bryan  Loop  2002 video

Annie Caterell  Edit (detail)  1997 glass

David Cotterrell  Shangri-La 2002 video and sound (musician and composer Jim Copperthwaite)

Peter Dukes  Propagator / The Knot  2002 digital video

Dan Howard-Birt  Sundays and Public Holidays  2002 floral carpet bedding

Sophie Lascelles  Dig  2002 16mm film

Laura Malacart Untitled  2002 C-type print

Kate Scrivener Small plot of land (detail) 2002 acrylic and gouache on Bonsai Tree 28 x 15 x 9 cm

Finlay Taylor Swallow Tail 2002 cactus, swallow tail butterflies and mixed media 153 x 45 x 45 cm

Adam Thompson Flag installation 2002

Shane Waltener Estudio de Sonida  2002 mixed media and sound

Jakob Wegener Iris  2001 projection

Emma Woffenden Cluster  2001 glass and rope

Emma Woffenden Pair  2001 glass and rope