Concrete (with Sand from each of the To-Be-Demolished Estates)
Concrete blocks - smooth surfaces, sharp edges - placed in the middle of the exhibition space. Grey sculptures, almost the same colour as the floor surrounding them. Small, easily to be overlooked - to be stumbled upon. What at first glance seems to be a random installation turns out to be a particular arrangement: The sculptures - representing particular buildings - are placed true to scale, forming a map.
BLOCKS picks up the topic of the social housing situation in London - lack of space, bad infrastructure, bad urban planning, demolition, regeneration and reconstruction. In a decent way BLOCKS points the finger at buildings that used to be very important because they inhabited thousands of people after decades of war and destruction. These houses are now abandoned, being demolished and probably soon forgotten. Raw concrete - the material the sculptures are made of - represents the architectural style “Brutalism” that was revolutionary regarding the cheap and fast construction of buildings in the 1960s and 1970s.
Before being completely torn down the artist paid these Council Housing Estates one last visit and took a piece of stone from the building with her which she had mixed into the concrete the sculptures are made of.