The WavyBlue Artists group presentation and installation on 28th October 2009Before entering the building .
Outside the entrance to the KUBE gallery was a fugitive ice sculpture incorporating layers of material gathered from the Boscombe Shelley Manor site. This frozen section was like an archaeological core tracing a link to the past and the remote site. The trapped material included poppy seeds (the opium/laudenum possibly taken for a variety of reasons including pain relief) and seaweed narrative of Percy Shelley's death by drowning.
Use of ice as a means of visual representation... gathering seaweed drying and pressing it was a Victorian pastime undertaken by ladies. The lacy effect being reminiscent of the gloves without which they would never walk abroad.
On entering the gallery the visitor was surrounded by a soundscape of sinister echoing drips; heartfelt spoken whispers taken from the Mary Shelley journals; baby noises and prosaic domestic lists ...laundry, books etc..
From the ground floor looking up one could see a large screen suspended from the ceiling showing slides of ice work created in the previous months during workshops and discussions.
In addition, on the first floor: monitors showing a film of the site visit to the Shelley Theatre. The group, wearing hard hats and high vis jackets, appear like actors making their entrances and exits .
Finally 2 other monitors showing slides.
photos by C.Roth and C. Shervin
