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Solo Exhibition: Midnight held 7 September to 3 November 2013

This was a sculptural installation exhibited at the former rocket testing facility at High Down on the Isle of Wight. This housed the British Space Programme during the 1950s and 60s and was the development centre for the first and only British rocket to put a satellite into space. The site was also testing technology capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. It is now owned and maintained by the National Trust. Entitled Midnight, a reference to the development of the Doomsday Clock in the 1940s, the installation was developed in collaboration with ex-rocketeer Mike Elliott and the High Down National Trust. It was commissioned as part of an artSOUTH collaborations award.

Research Imperatives

The research focused around public engagement with industrial concrete architecture. Can the personal narratives of people who lived and worked on sites of ‘near history’ lead to greater understanding of working life and the political environment of the Cold War? Can the reconstruction of a former test site using new materials extend and widen the public’s understanding of the unglamorous remains of ‘near history’ structures? What contemporary understandings can be drawn out of historical narratives?

Hall constructed a room from cardboard to recreate the sense and ambiance of the old test provision inside one of the existing spaces. Visitors moved through the abandoned space, experiencing the concept of a world without people.

artSOUTH : collaborations is a contemporary visual art project supported by Arts Council England, presenting newly commissioned artworks in diverse locations across central Southern England. Through an open-submission process, artists were invited to respond sensitively and experimentally to the local context of the region; and to identify collaborators or specialists in another field to co-create new work.

Portfolio

Paper:

(i) artSOUTH collaboration awards’ guide and catalogue

(ii) Publication

(iii) Nom de Strip article

CD:

(i) Images of exhibition

(ii) Date of dissemination – private view invitation

(iii) Press release

artSOUTH website - www3.hants.gov.uk/artsouth