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| Artist takes up residence at the Queen Mother's ancestral home | Artist takes up residence at the Queen Mother's ancestral home |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Earlier this year the Swedish artist Tris Vonna-Michell was "in residence" at the National Trust's Gibside property on the outskirts of Gateshead. | Earlier this year the Swedish artist Tris Vonna-Michell was "in residence" at the National Trust's Gibside property on the outskirts of Gateshead. |
| The residency has resulted in an installation called Ulterior Vistas, which can be seen at the Baltic until November 11. | The residency has resulted in an installation called Ulterior Vistas, which can be seen at the Baltic until November 11. |
| Ulterior Vistas consists of two slide projectors showing mainly monochrome images of parkland and rural scenes, played in a darkened room with a sound track consisting of a chanted monologue with musical background. In the monologue we hear: | Ulterior Vistas consists of two slide projectors showing mainly monochrome images of parkland and rural scenes, played in a darkened room with a sound track consisting of a chanted monologue with musical background. In the monologue we hear: |
| a driven sales agent is orating a prospectus based on grand 18th Century English landscape garden design for an unidentified client, perhaps a venture capitalist. He is soliciting a global perspective characterised by appropriation of cultural heritage in order to cultivate a desirable public persona for his client. Aside from offering an array of landscape gardening solutions and attributes he also proposes more abstract features such as synthetic spirituality and symbolic gestures of generosity. | a driven sales agent is orating a prospectus based on grand 18th Century English landscape garden design for an unidentified client, perhaps a venture capitalist. He is soliciting a global perspective characterised by appropriation of cultural heritage in order to cultivate a desirable public persona for his client. Aside from offering an array of landscape gardening solutions and attributes he also proposes more abstract features such as synthetic spirituality and symbolic gestures of generosity. |
| The effect is somewhat reminiscent of Edith Sitwell's Façade, which she recited from behind a curtain designed by John Piper with musical accompaniment by William Walton. | The effect is somewhat reminiscent of Edith Sitwell's Façade, which she recited from behind a curtain designed by John Piper with musical accompaniment by William Walton. |
| The main house at Gibside has been largely uninhabited since the 1920s, and is now just a romantic ruin. The house belonged to local mine-owner George Bowes, whose only daughter Mary Eleanor carried his estates into the Lyon family, adding her surname to theirs. She was the great-great-great-grandmother of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and rumour has it that it was partly paying the costs for her wedding to the future George VI that forced the Bowes-Lyons to abandon Gibside. | The main house at Gibside has been largely uninhabited since the 1920s, and is now just a romantic ruin. The house belonged to local mine-owner George Bowes, whose only daughter Mary Eleanor carried his estates into the Lyon family, adding her surname to theirs. She was the great-great-great-grandmother of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and rumour has it that it was partly paying the costs for her wedding to the future George VI that forced the Bowes-Lyons to abandon Gibside. |
| While at Gibside, Tris Vonna-Michell stayed in the Grade I listed gothic Banqueting House, which was restored from dereliction by the Landmark Trust - which now lets it out as a holiday cottage. The house was built for George Bowes in 1751 by Daniel Garrett – who also designed the magnificent Palladian stable block, where George Bowes kept his 35 horses in considerably greater comfort than the people who worked in his mines. | While at Gibside, Tris Vonna-Michell stayed in the Grade I listed gothic Banqueting House, which was restored from dereliction by the Landmark Trust - which now lets it out as a holiday cottage. The house was built for George Bowes in 1751 by Daniel Garrett – who also designed the magnificent Palladian stable block, where George Bowes kept his 35 horses in considerably greater comfort than the people who worked in his mines. |
| Other features of the estate include the Chapel, which doubles as a mausoleum for George Bowes, and the Statue of British Liberty, standing proudly on her 146' high Doric column - taller than Grey's Monument in Newcastle, which she can probably see across the Derwent and Tyne valleys. The statue and its column are at the end of the Long Walk -a wide avenue of beautiful mature oaks, limes and sycamores. | Other features of the estate include the Chapel, which doubles as a mausoleum for George Bowes, and the Statue of British Liberty, standing proudly on her 146' high Doric column - taller than Grey's Monument in Newcastle, which she can probably see across the Derwent and Tyne valleys. The statue and its column are at the end of the Long Walk -a wide avenue of beautiful mature oaks, limes and sycamores. |
| The reliably prolix Augustus Hare visited in 1862, saying: | The reliably prolix Augustus Hare visited in 1862, saying: |
| Gibside was a beautiful place. The long many-orielled battlemented house was reached through exquisite woods feathering down to the Derwent. A tall column in the park commemorates the victory of George Bowes … over Sir Robert Walpole at a Newcastle election. | Gibside was a beautiful place. The long many-orielled battlemented house was reached through exquisite woods feathering down to the Derwent. A tall column in the park commemorates the victory of George Bowes … over Sir Robert Walpole at a Newcastle election. |
| He adds that the chapel is "a beautiful building externally, but hideous within, with the pulpit in the centre." | He adds that the chapel is "a beautiful building externally, but hideous within, with the pulpit in the centre." |
| Tris Vonna Michell has been shortlisted for the 2012 $100,000 Hugo Boss Prize, which is being decided at the Guggenheim Museum in New York this week. He took part in this year's Shanghai Biennale, in the British Art Show 7 in 2010, and he has also exhibited in Paris, London, Turin, Vienna and New York. | Tris Vonna Michell has been shortlisted for the 2012 $100,000 Hugo Boss Prize, which is being decided at the Guggenheim Museum in New York this week. He took part in this year's Shanghai Biennale, in the British Art Show 7 in 2010, and he has also exhibited in Paris, London, Turin, Vienna and New York. |
| Tris Vonna Michell's Ulterior Vistas is on at the Baltic until November 11. There's a curator's talk about the exhibition at the Baltic on November 6, which will be followed by a trip to Gibside and National Trust tour of the estate. | Tris Vonna Michell's Ulterior Vistas is on at the Baltic until November 11. There's a curator's talk about the exhibition at the Baltic on November 6, which will be followed by a trip to Gibside and National Trust tour of the estate. |
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