Friday 6th May 2011
We arrived at just gone nine in the morning, excited about setting up the show and a little in awe of the task before us.
The first thing we did was grab a ladder and set up Grampa and Grandma, it was a strange and satisfying sensation seeing those walking sticks, shoes and slippers, dangling from the tree, against the backdrop of the red sandstone walls and the countryside beyond.
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Detail of Downward Spiral during installation
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We made our way back to the Gate House, where we were welcomed into the early morning staff meeting. The first thing we found out was that the gaiter that we were supposed to be using to transport some of the works had a flat tyre, we laughed despite terrifying visions of lugging heavy boxes and objects across the castle grounds. Fortunately, we then found out it was a slow flat, so all we needed to do was pump up the tyre and everything would be fine. We were equipped with a radio and then everyone rushed off about their business. We had a rather hasty cup of tea – well Tim had tea and I had coffee – and made our way outside, where Tim later received a brief induction into using the gaiter.
Suminder hadn’t arrived yet, so we decided to unload some more things from the car; it was precisely at that moment that Suminder and Jonathan arrived with a white van following close behind.
We opened the castle gates and the van driver drove into the grounds. We unloaded and began making our way to Leicester’s building, where Suminder’s work was to be installed. It was quite a moment seeing all those opened boxes and cases, appropriating ourselves of this precious Heritage site.
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| Suminder Virk & Johnathan Tredwell setting up Downward Spiral |
Set up was slow and meticulous, there was a bed frame to set up, mirror tiles to polish and heaven knows how many red-wrapped bed springs to arrange on the bed, before the final touch: the laying of a queen size sheet of Perspex.
I stayed with Suminder and Jonathan - supervising and taking some photos, while Tim went off to collect Concetta's salt from the workshop around the corner and meet Stephen, who had unwittingly failed to wrap his resin sculptures and was hence forced to make amends in the back of the van he had hired. A disaster though it may seem, Stephen took it well – after a string of justifiable obscenities that mainly began with ‘b’ and ‘s’ – and proceeded to install the integral sculptures and repair the other two damaged ones.
But, all in all, the morning proceeded relatively smoothly.
Suminder’s piece, Downward Spiral, finished we went back to Stephen who was about to position the final piece.
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| Tim &Stephen setting off with 'Spaced' |
I followed as fast as I could behind the gaiter, in a cloud of dust, taking photos. It was fun, people were curious and amused by the works that had sprung up around the Elizabethan Garden. In the meantime, Suminder and Jonathan had got sidetracked by Stephen’s piece, Relax, where they lay down on the grass beside it and took pictures of themselves. They came to meet us and we chatted a while to a few spectators then went off, back to the Gate House and said goodbye to Suminder and Jonathan, who were soon followed by Stephen. At this point, it was well past twelve and we still had so much to do, including picking up more things from home.
Hunger upon us we headed home, via the School Lane chip shop, one of our sponsors and returned to the flat for a good old ‘chip butty’ and some light refreshment.
Now, after this, it all goes a little grey - it must be the tiredness of the last few days - but I will attempt to remember how the events unfolded...
Ah yes, now I remember: we loaded the car with as much as we could and made our return to the castle. We unloaded Tim’s chessboard, then proceeded to set up Concetta’s ‘Snow Flower’ piece which consists of 50kg of salt and a green, embroidered flower, in the Lunn Tower. Photos taken and satisfied with the result, we loaded the gaiter as best we could and set off, up and down the bumpy knolls to the Great Hall, where Tim installed his giant chess board, Napoleon’s Plan.
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| Snow Flower by Concetta Modica |
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| Napoleon's Plan by Tim Robottom |
Somewhere along the line, Tim also installed ‘Two Feet Deep’, a pair of Wellington boots filled with water, in the ‘Water Tower’.
It was getting increasingly late, so back to the Gate House to pick up more work, a ladder and the much needed sandbags for Solve et Coagula, an eerie ‘totem’ composed of real sheep’s wool and a goat’s skull, which we positioned in the Bay Window area above the Great Hall. The pole was passed up , along with the sandbags – I’m still wondering how we’re going to get the latter down. I had a real desire to go up there, as it was a place I had always wanted to get to as a child, but for the first time in my life, I have no idea why, my heart sunk in my stomach and I had an attack of knee-trembling vertigo – that said, I managed it anyway, albeit a little tentatively and shakily. We returned back to the Gate House, where we met with the security guard, Dave, with his dog, who advised us to remove the loose chess pieces from the board and put them away, in case they vanished into the night by the hand of modern-day marauders. So, off we went on a last site tour to check all the works and to ‘pick up the pieces’, so to speak.
All done, we said goodbye to Dave – but not the dog – and set off home to recover from the day.
Sarah Silver
