Wednesday, July 06, 2016

Cath Campbell: 'Since the Middle Summer’s Spring' Head of Steam Museum, Darlington, UK


Workplace Gallery
Image: Cath Campbell, Since the Middle Summer's Spring, 2016, Ply, steel, cardboard, paper, model train and track, 350 x 230 x 150 cm (CC0095)
Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery, UK

 

Since the Middle Summer's Spring

Head of Steam Museum
North Road Station
Darlington DL3 6ST, UK
           
9July - 4September 2016
Tuesday - Sunday 10-4pm

'Since the Middle Summer's Spring' is a temporary commission for Darlington Head of Steam Museum by artist Cath Campbell.

Known for her interventions within in architecture, architectural models and drawings, Cath presents six small sculptures of railway stations between which a paper schooner travels along a model train track in a slow endless loop.

The work is a response to the Museum Collection, and explores the aesthetic of model architecture, model railways and the museum exhibit to create a dreamlike model world inspired by the epic voyage of a young woman from Southampton to Alexandria in 1858, in the company of the famous engineer Robert Stephenson.

Each sculpture depicts a railway station from a stopping point on their journey including Southampton Central Station, England, Mdina Station, Malta, Algeciras Station, Spain (near Gibraltar), Ramses Central Railway Station, Cairo, Egypt, Algiers Central Train Station, Algeria and Dijon-Ville Train Station, France. The boat is a model of Robert Stephenson's first yacht, Titania.

The work is commissioned for Meeting Point, led by contemporary art specialists Arts&Heritage. Meeting Point takes place at nine museums in the North East and Yorkshire from March to November 2016.

The project is funded by Arts Council England's Museum Resilience Fund.