Friday, March 16, 2007
Building Site Visit
And yesterday I was in Luxembourg. Of All The People In All The World is going to be part of a big Capital of Culture exhibition there, so time-out from highly stressful negotiations over a potential new home for Stan’s Cafe and preparations for the start of full-on rehearsals for the Cleansing Of Constance Brown, for a site visit.
They are undertaking a remarkably ambitious project there. In a vast former Steal Plant outside town an 11 Zone installation is being set up to run for a minimum of six months. We are to be Zone 7: Understand. It feels as if you could plonk a couple of Tate Moderns inside the vast main hall where the bottom half of a Satern V rocket appears to be being constructed out of wood. Tens of thousands of water bottles are being marshalled in sand as waves washing on the shore and so on. I am shown round being told what is going to go here and what is to be installed there, “this will be the main entrance, with doors here and here”, “a staircase will come down here”, “two huge banners hang down over there”. Around us railings are being welded into place, angle grinders are send orange sparks arching as they cut through steel mesh. The whole thing opens in about a month.
It seems implausible that all will be ready, but everyone seems relaxed and as you look more carefully you realise that they are closer than you’d think. They are mostly just adding to the building’s kit, rather than stripping it out, lights and speakers have been subtly integrated into the original machinery in many of the spaces.
After a trip round I sit down with a coffee, huddled in the management’s office scribbling notes for the team:
Rice in easy to lift 10kg bags.
Go big on Environment and Golbalisation themes.
Echo elements of other Zones (see separate notes).
Place table at the far end of space.
Bring thermals.
James
They are undertaking a remarkably ambitious project there. In a vast former Steal Plant outside town an 11 Zone installation is being set up to run for a minimum of six months. We are to be Zone 7: Understand. It feels as if you could plonk a couple of Tate Moderns inside the vast main hall where the bottom half of a Satern V rocket appears to be being constructed out of wood. Tens of thousands of water bottles are being marshalled in sand as waves washing on the shore and so on. I am shown round being told what is going to go here and what is to be installed there, “this will be the main entrance, with doors here and here”, “a staircase will come down here”, “two huge banners hang down over there”. Around us railings are being welded into place, angle grinders are send orange sparks arching as they cut through steel mesh. The whole thing opens in about a month.
It seems implausible that all will be ready, but everyone seems relaxed and as you look more carefully you realise that they are closer than you’d think. They are mostly just adding to the building’s kit, rather than stripping it out, lights and speakers have been subtly integrated into the original machinery in many of the spaces.
After a trip round I sit down with a coffee, huddled in the management’s office scribbling notes for the team:
Rice in easy to lift 10kg bags.
Go big on Environment and Golbalisation themes.
Echo elements of other Zones (see separate notes).
Place table at the far end of space.
Bring thermals.
James
