January will be a very busy month as we get take down our second exhibition, Nothing in the World but Youth and start work on installing two new exhibitions in the galleries: Hamish Fulton: Walk and Turner and the Elements. Installation is always an exciting time in the gallery and I especially enjoy seeing the spaces transformed, sometimes quite dramatically.
(See the time lapse footage from day 1 on de-install of Nothing in the World But Youth below)
Hamish Fulton’s exhibition in the West and Balcony galleries (opening on 17 January until 7 May) will be his first solo show in the UK since an exhibition at Tate Britain in 2002. Hamish, who has lived in Canterbury for many years, exhibits his work all over the world. His practice is based on his experiences of walking in the landscape and he has been making art resulting from the experience of individual and group walks since the early 1970s. Turner Contemporary’s relationship with him started around four years ago, when we commissioned him to make a series of group walks in Kent and France.
Hamish Fulton Walk 3: Boulogne sur mer. Photo Kim Conway
For Fulton, walking can be many things: it is a meditative experience; a physical challenge (he is particularly interested in mountaineering as a form of walking based on an extreme relationship with nature). It is also, at times, a form of protest and this exhibition will include a pair of text works he has made resulting from expeditions on the Nepal/Tibet border commenting on China’s occupation of Tibet. At the heart of his practice, and of this exhibition, is the belief in walking as an artform in its own right.
Hamish Fulton, Chinese Economy, Tibetan Justice © Hamish Fulton
The exhibition starts with works representing walks Fulton has made in Kent and South East England, including a new film documenting a group walk with 198 people walking slowly and in silence around Margate boating pool in 2010. This is the first film the artist has made. Fulton has stated that, ‘a walked line, unlike a drawn line, can never be erased’. In this film the walkers appear to trace a continuous line on the beach.
Other text works are being installed to respond directly to the architecture of the West Gallery, in particular the angled roof line:
West Gallery layout view
All the works in the exhibition are being transported from within the South East, in part a reflection of his commitment to environmental sustainability. In his walks, he tries to make as minimal impact on the landscape as possible, influenced by the US Wilderness ethic of ‘leave no trace’.
From 10 – 17 January, visitors to the gallery can watch time lapse footage of the exhibition changeover on the first floor, so do come and see for yourself!
You can also see the film, which is updated every day, here.
