Art and sculpture have been appearing in the grounds of Cheshire's wonderful Tatton Park in the autumn time for some years now, and this September was no exception. Chris and I went along on Sunday to see what was on offer this year.
This year's exhibit is called 'Flights of Fancy' and, if I'm honest, it was a tad naff! I can't understand why anyone would bother creating some of this tripe but- to make it worse- is the horrendous piece descriptions that accompany the tripe!!! Strong words I know, but its true! But of course, that is just my humble opinion.
Below are some of the pieces I did enjoy, because it certainly wasn't all bad, and some I didn't. Put it this way, I think Beyond Limits at Chatsworth can rest easy for some years yet!!!
Chris and I initially walked past this and Chris joked 'I bet that's part of the exhibit', I said 'nah' and checked the guide just in case and he was right?! Inside was a video on loop. It wasn't too bad but the blurb to go with it was of the nauseating variety I can't stand- 'An endless 'pre- enactment' of a future that mimics the spirit of air travel without the memory of why (or how) we once flew'. Seriously?! Get a grip!!! (Sorry Simon Faithful!)
This interesting specimen is called 'Dead Cat' by Charbel Ackerman and is 'an ode to inspired experimenters like Tatton's last Lord, Maurice Egerton, an early radio and flight enthusiast'. I quite liked this, suspended between the trees high off the ground. Did rather look like road kill so was aptly titled.
Another corking load of tripe about this piece, Mars Society by Tom Dale, goes 'a 1950s Thunderbird rocket carries a cultural payload, its flags suggesting an ambiguous ideology'. Please! Who writes this nonsense?! What made this interesting was the fact that its a real unexploded bomb that landed at Tatton during WW2 and the MOD gave it back to Lord Egerton as a souvenir! Cool eh?
Brass Art 'Trine Messenger'. Quite liked this inflatable, beautifully situated.
This was a quirky piece by the Ultimate Holding Company called 'The Cartland Institute for Romance Research'. It was a little van with a large model glider on top, as you can no doubt clearly see, with a window in to the body of the vehicle revealing a display of Barbara's books and model planes/ gliders, a sort of chintzy 'reading area', photos of (I presume?) Barbara- it was quite good actually. I learnt that Barbara was 'instrumental in the development of the troop carrying glider, the Conservative 'Back to Basics' policy and promoting the rights of children and travelers'. So there you go!
This brilliant piece is Hilary Jack's 'Empty Nest' and 'considers the superstition that crows leave their colonies when a childless heir to a fortune dies'. The last Lord Egerton died without an heir, hence Tatton passed in to the care of the National Trust. This piece was fab, and once up in the nest it was very life like. It must have taken days and days to construct- great attention to detail.
I'm not even going to go here.... (Dinu Li 'VEX')
Juneau Projects 'Gleaners of the Infocalypse' was a good piece to finish on, although again, the blurb about it was nauseating- 'presented as a stage set fantasy about what life could be like in the aftermath of a technology- driven disaster, with a pair of artists acting out their own Cargo Cult rituals in the Deer Park.' This BAe 146-200 is supposed to be their 'hide' as they 'live feral in the grounds'. Oh god.... Looked good though.
If I've inspired you to pay a visit and form your own opinions of these and the many other pieces not pictured here, both in the Garden and House, then you can catch the Biennial till this Sunday, September 30th. More details can be found at the Tatton Park website- http://www.tattonpark.org.uk- in the events section.
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