LUMEN
St Clement’s Old Psychiatric Hospital, Bow
05 – 15.12.2013
Uliana Apatina, Anne Brodie, Juniper Daumier, Katherine Fry, Tessa Garland, Paul Insect, Baylen Leonard, Susan Morris, Anne Robinson, Sarah Sparkes.
SUSAN MORRIS: LUMEN
SEMINAR ROOM: SunDial:NightWatch_Sleep/Wake_2010, 2011, Jacquard tapestry: silk and wool yarn, 170 x 282 cm
STAIRWELL: SunDial:NightWatch_Long Exposure: 2010-2012 (Test piece for Tapestry), 2013, Archival inkjet print on wallpaper, 623 x 318 cm
In the SunDial:NightWatch series I am recording my sleep/wake patterns, using a scientific device called an Actiwatch. Worn on the wrist and used in the field of Chronobiology (which looks at how organisms adapt to solar and lunar-related rhythms) the watch collects data that I send directly to a Jacquard loom. Here the minute-by-minute numerical values are converted into coloured thread, following a convention established by the Chronobiogists: red for ‘lots of activity’, black for ‘little or none’, with a gradient of colours in between. Large amounts of the colour blue, for example, usually indicate ‘awake but not very active’ – i.e. that I was probably working on my computer.
I started this project at the beginning of 2010, so I’m now almost through four years of continuous recording. For the Winter Shuffle festival, in the seminar room, I am showing a framed tapestry derived from tracking my activity and rest during the year 2010, plus a new work, hung down the stairwell, that shows the levels of natural and artificial light I was exposed to from January 2010 to December 2012.
The Jacquard loom was one of the first inventions to mechanize human labour. Taking the ‘handmade’ away from processes of production means that we become increasingly harnessed to machines that work faster and for longer than we can. The extension of working hours, brought about by the use of artificial light and the implementation of shiftwork, arguably goes against the body’s natural rhythms. Tapestry thus becomes an interesting medium for an art that draws attention to the way the body might resist certain aspects of socialization.
Further information about each work can be found in the accompanying wall texts below.
Proposed installation of SunDial:NightWatch_Long Exposure: 2010-2012 (Test piece for Tapestry) for ‘Lumen’ at St Clement’s Old Psychiatric Hospital, Bow, 2013. Drawing by Trevor Horne.
LUMEN
St Clement’s Old Psychiatric Hospital, Bow
Local artists, inspired by the poignancy and beauty of a derelict Psychiatric hospital and former workhouse have been given access to this crumbling building prior to redevelopment.
The transformation of this historic building forms part of this summer’s Shuffle Festival, which includes theatre, poetry readings, and films curated by director and local resident, Danny Boyle.
Exhibiting artists
Uliana Apatina, Anne Brodie, Juniper Daumier, Katherine Fry, Tessa Garland, Paul Insect, Baylen Leonard, Susan Morris, Anne Robinson, Sarah Sparkes.
About St Clement’s Hospital, Bow
St Clement’s was built as a workhouse in 1848/9, where those that were unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and unpaid employment. The building opened in 1849 as the City of London Union Workhouse. In 1874, while remaining the property of the same Union, it was converted intoan infirmary used for examination and assessment of patients' mental health before being sent to other institutions or being discharged.
When the Homerton Workhouse reopened in1909, the infirmary became superfluous and was closed. However, it was reopened in 1912 as the City of London Institution to treat the chronically ill. By 1959 the Hospital had become exclusively psychiatric. It became part of the London Hospital Group in 1968 and was then called the London Hospital (St Clement’s).
From 1968 to 2003 it remained a mental health facility until the East London and The City Mental Health NHS Trust decided to sell the site for redevelopment. It closed in 2007 and was sold to The Community Land Trust.
About The East London Community Land Trust (ELCLT)
ELCLT exists to deliver permanently affordable housing in east London, ensuring that people are no longer priced out of the neighbourhoods they grew up in. Born out of the community organising efforts of Citizens UK, ELCLT not only actively engages as many local people as possible, but is set up by, owned by and run by the people of East London.
LUMEN is supported by Arts Council England and the Wellcome Trust