A major new artwork by artist Susie MacMurray will be on display at Tatton Mansion’s grand Staircase throughout the summer. The extraordinary installation on behalf of East Cheshire Hospice represents the vulnerability and resilience of humanity and inspired by the Mansion's impressive history and architecture.
MacMurray is known for her large -scale immersive installations that combine meticulous detail with a sense of spectacle and drama. Gathering is no different. Thousands of individual elements of red velvet and barbed wire are suspended in the grand rotunda to create a performative space that draws you in.
Inspired by the history and architecture, the artist said:
“In 1897 a grand costume ball was held at Tatton - a gathering, theatrical and wildly extravagant. I was drawn immediately to the architecture of the staircase hall, with its circular cut out landing hovering halfway between the ground floor below and the cupola high above. I imagined leaning on the railing with a birds-eye view of the attendees, bedecked in their velvet finery, promenading below.
Architecturally the space invites the work to cascade through the void like Spanish moss. Gathering is voluptuous but wounded. I also found a curious resonance between this in-between space and the idea of hospice."
Gathering will be on display in the Mansion from 28 June to 6 October 2019. For further information on the piece, please contact the gallery.
