A 21st century flood will engulf the ancient space of York St Mary’s this summer as part of a site-specific by Susan Stockwell.
In her new work, a tower of computer components will pour from the roof of the medieval church, suffusing the nave with a brightly coloured pool of metal and wire from June 18 to October 31.
“Highlighting the components’ beauty, the piece relates to the architectural form of the church, seeping into the space and surrounding us with their toxic exquisiteness,” says Susan.
“The computers have been dissected, their innards exposed, revealing the underbelly of the machines we take for granted, an autopsy of our consumer society.”
Susan has drawn on themes of communication, consumerism and capitalism for Flood, the fifth installation to be commissioned by York Museums Trust with funding from the Arts Council. The piece will be made of four tonnes of computer power supplies sourced from Secure IT Recycling (SITR) in Cheshire, where they will be returned for recycling in November.
The power supplies will be used as building blocks to create the large tower that will dominate the church. The blocks will then flow from the tower to create the “flood” of computer components, filling the nave.
Flood is the latest example of numerous works and installations exhibited internationally by Susan Stockwell that adapt everyday items to create works of art. Among them are the circuit-board piece Memory Stack in Taiwan; Paper Tiger, a large paper dress in London; and Tea World, a map of the world painted with tea on teabag paper, in the United States.
Susan’s last commission was Chinese Dreams, a piece for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London that used recycled Chinese money notes, cotton thread and red ribbon to make a quilt for the exhibition Quilts 1700-2010, Hidden Histories, Untold Stories.
A catalogue, featuring an interview with the artist and a foreword by Janet Barnes, chief executive of York Museums Trust, will be produced for the installation. York St Mary’s will be open from 10am to 4pm and admission will be free.
For more information on the church, Flood and past installations, go to Yorkstmarys.org.uk
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