I’ve worked on my fair share of exhibitions, but I have never helped to curate an exhibition without selecting the work or the space. It was a challenge, then, to arrive at
St Pancras' church on Euston Road, descend underground, and begin assisting artists
Kate MccGwire and
Marilene Oliver to negotiate pieces by 9 artists into the passageways, alcoves and unnameable nooks and crannies of the crypt.
It was also possibly the hottest day of the year last Tuesday, which made the process even stranger. Emerging for coffee or much-needed cake, and to warm up in the sun was necessary, as the dankness was energy-sapping. But it was contrast like this that made the orchestration of the works even more fascinating. Over the three days, I have notes made like snapshots, observing artists working with a space that has a sculptural presence of its own.
Esther Teichmann's carefully trimmed projected light.
Annie Cattrell's extraordinary casts in glass and silver. Marilene's physical/digital bodies carefully aligned in facing spaces, on ledges and suspended, turning.
Kate Street's sculptures on walls sound enough to hold her intricate sculptures, echoing the unnerving atmosphere.
Richard Ducker's cast works lying as if in wait, but also waiting to shift or be shifted.
Jan Dunning's pinhole photographs brought other spaces to play in the space. And
Joy Gerrard's architectural drawing and films spoke of urban spaces populated and unpopulated, unfixed, moving.
Amanda Couch made her own space - a performative territory into which could be invited single observers. Net, feathers: tightly drawn and fixed by Kate MccGwire. All of this, illuminated to beckon you deeper into the crypt. Even torches are sometimes necessary.
If you are near to Euston station (the church is directly opposite: entrance on Duke's Road) before 21st June, look for the towering caryatid porches, follow the directions around the back, and descend the steps to
The Space Between.
