(Above) Alistair Vlok, detail of Window Wind Up. Picture © the artist
Using the glamorous, iconic backdrop of Somerset House in London, we’ve come to expect the unexpected from the East Wing VIII project, taking over part of the decadent mansion for occasional openings which welcome visiting artists with frequently disarming experimental approaches.
Even the date of their Museums at Night event – a week after the official dates, on May 22 2009 – is different, and they’ve devised a programme for this late night version which includes recycled jewellery, film scores from Glyndebourne, Polish poets and wind-up music boxes among the way.
Ed Hughes, premier of Auditorium at Glynebourne. Picture: Richard Rowland
Michelle Wong’s When You Set Off to India, a multimedia piece fading white words in and out of a black background, uses text from writing by John Cage, Wislawa Szymborska’s Notes from a Nonexistent Himalayan Experience and Constatine Cavafy’s Ithaca, chosen because of the “feeling of a journey” described and created by the words.
“I was preoccupied with the notion of silence and how it can be sculpted out by sounds,” reflects Wong, who made the piece while at school in the US two years ago.
Troy Banarzi, magic organ. Picture © the artist
Less muted is Etude: On Time, a solo violin composition written for the exhibition by Ed Hughes on the theme of time. It will be performed by Anna Blackmur alongside Hughes’ composition of Auditorium, commissioned by Glyndebourne Opera and Photoworks, running alongside more music inspired by art from James Weeks and Tom Hankey.
Troy Banarzi makes musical sculptures from “discarded junk” and redundant musical instruments, inspired by 18th century automata to form new instruments and create “that sense of awe and mystery that people felt all those years back” on first sight of automatons.
Lua Lua, Tutti Frutti necklace
“It was like magic to them, tying in with their sense of the supernatural,” he says, presenting an antique wind-up box and a Magic Organ combining pipes from a church ivory with fairground lights.
“The pipes were salvaged from a rotting church organ which hadn't been used for 50 years. I added some internal lights to complete the instrument, which flash in time with the music, and give it a haunting fairground feel.
“The computer's been programmed to play music and light scores, which I've especially made for the organ. It has a very sweet, vulnerable sound – a bit like the organ from the magic roundabout theme tune.”
Aisling Hedgecock, The All-Star History of Baroque Interference, Part 2. Picture © the artist
RCA artist Adam Bridgland leads a workshop, Wish You Were Here, Love From London, where participants can create their own fantasy destinations through collages onto blank postcards, sparked by images of people and landscapes.
Elsewhere, Baccara Smart’s With You Lilly Marleen, a film recounting the declining health of parents suffering from Alzheimer’s, considers the “circus of life” in the context of illness, and The Vineyard comprises a new performance from an international collective of poets.
Antony Gormley, Blanket Drawing I. Picture © the artist
Harald Smykla paints walls with imaginary lines via an overhead projector, Mark Nicoll investigates time through takeaway sketches of audience members, Lua Lua make pieces of jewellery from recycled materials and Rebecca Birch uses conversations with visitors as the basis for live drawings.
Michael Ajerman, An Ascension. Picture © the artist
Organiser Chloé Nelkin says she was “especially keen” to celebrate Museums at Night, and is beginning to see the café space in East Wing develop into “our very own mini concert hall.” “The aim of encouraging a diverse audience into the gallery space is something we have always strived to achieve, so this is a perfect way for us to express our aims,” she says.
“I always looks forward to our events - it's such an exciting challenge to co-ordinate a programme like this and it is very satisfying when visitors enjoy everything so much and return time and time again.”
Visit East Wing 8 online for full details.
