Alex Chinneck Flips A Georgian Building In New London Installation

Alex Chinneck

London-based artist Alex Chinneck the artist who recently deconstructed the facade of a Victorian building in Margate making it appear like a rolled down blind is presenting a new installation in London. For the grand finale to the MERGE 2013 festival, the artist has created a large-scale site-specific work on a building due for demolition on Blackfriars Road. The currently disused site has had its façade turned upside down with a design that considers and celebrates the history and life of the building.

Chinneck takes sculpturally complex routes to arrive at playful visual moments. Exploring the space between art, theatre and architecture he is inspired by the landscapes of London’s industrial peripheries. In his latest installation titled MINER ON THE MOON he reworks their powerful aesthetics and aims to find new and ambitious applications for everyday construction materials. The unrefined materials of basic construction are given a second life. Removed from their utilitarian context they are reshaped and enlivened with new purpose and appearance. Stones, metals and woods are manipulated beyond their apparent capacity to transcend their material nature and often move with illusory effect.

Built in 1780, the site was originally used as livery stables, housing horses and carriages for hire. The access through the site was also used to ferry live cattle and goods from the courtyard to trade along the Thames. The building itself was used as a residential unit for families and workers. In 1880 the ground floor shop unit changed use and was listed in the local Post Office as a Pawn Broker, while the passageway to the side was used to gain access to the Tress and Co site. From the 1800’s onwards the history of the building is unknown. Join us to create a narrative for its final days.

On View on the Blackfriars Road from 4 December 2013

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