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Kettles Yard at Tate Britain

In 2009, Tate Britain hosted a special display devoted to Kettles Yard, marking the national launch of the Kettles Yard Development Appeal; bringing together highlights from the house collection and newly commissioned work by Edmund de Waal and Gary Woodley.

Impingement No.53 ‘ellipsoid’ 22.0 x 7.0 x 7.0 metres, was a work specially made to fit the whole of Tate Britain’s gallery 23 and a large section of the Duveen gallery. The elongated ellipsoid form was chosen for the particular quality and complexity of the lines of intersection that were generated with the wonderfully classical cylindrical niches at either end of gallery 23, which are surprisingly derived from such a simple form. It also caused a large 7 metre high curvilinear frame in the Duveen space for the first time, which the visitor passed through before entering the gallery. This ellipsoidal ‘bubble’ explored a unique opportunity to engulf the whole of the Kettles Yard collection on show and was reflected by the Brancusi head placed in front of one of the niches, and the compound lines of the Gabo drawing to one side.

In order to generate the form, a precise computer model of gallery 23 and its surroundings was generated with the relative positions of the other artworks in place. The scale and position of the ellipsoid was calculated relative to this. Once the lines of intersection were determined, a large scale ellipsoidal drawing machine was constructed from the most advanced non-stretch cord, machined aluminium guides and modified photographic tripods. This allowed for precision positioning in relation to the computer information, and for me to guide a pencil point with great accuracy across the elaborate mouldings and complex surfaces of the gallery.