14th February 2015
‘Warp and Weft’
@ Turbine Hall, Tate Modern Tuttle Family Day
The sound artist Dougie Evans and I received a commission to create an audience participatory performance in Turbine Hall Tate Modern. We incorporated Richard Tuttle’s ‘I Don’t Know’, the enormous textile installation hung from the ceiling of the hall.
I was inspired by his passion for textiles and the scale of global connectivity through culture. From the idea of ‘weaving’ and the engagement with the space that the sculpture occupies, we decided to create the large scale flocking with long sticks and fabric. As the different groups flocked together they created patterns and weaved with one another.
Tuttle’s work explores language, in particular the link between textile and language and appears to be delicate and poetic. I wanted to examine this dialogue in our response to his work. Dougie and I created a giant ‘tin-can-telephone’ and placed for the public to speak to and direct the flocks. The tin-can-telephone added another way for the public to involve and people seemed to enjoy hearing ranges of voices echo through the space and the way flocks responded.
Click here to view short clips on Instagram
Special thanks to:
Luke Birch, Sophie Arstall, Sally Smithson, Beth Alena MacInnes, Iris Chan, Sian Goldby, Juri Nishi and Justyna Janiszewska (Dance)
Beth Alena MacInnes (Photography)