2015 & Cornelia Parker - Part 1 at The Whitworth

War,Peace (recto) - Hand embroidered by prisoners in HM Prisons

I have to admit that until 2015 I hadn't really come across Cornelia Parker - and then suddenly her work seemed to be everywhere.  Parker (b. 1956) is known for her large scale, often site specific, installations.  She works in a variety of mediums and collaborates with many bodies and institutions.  Here are some highlights from my year of CP. 

The Whitworth

It began with the reopening of The Whitworth in Manchester in February (quick aside - well worth a visit - do go and until the 31 January there is an Art Textiles Exhibition which I would love to go to!).  Cornelia Parker was one of the opening exhibitors.  Here's a taster ...
 

Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View 1991 - Cornelia Parker

Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View 1991 (detail) - Cornelia Parker

This is a shed and its contents that was blown up by the Army School of Ammunition in Banbury using semtex.  All the pieces were then collected and reassembled with the smallest pieces closest to the light and the largest pieces furthest away.  The title of the piece and the installation itself are an attempt to formalise an explosion in a pseudo-scientific way.  The choice of an explosion came from the constant threat of IRA bombs in London and the violent comic strip imagery of the 1980s and 90s.
 

Love, Hate (verso) - Hand embroidered by prisoners in HM Prisons

Here words with opposite definitions have been embroidered on the same piece of linen such that you have to read the mirror image of one meaning to get the full picture.

War Room - Perforated paper negatives left over from production of British Legion Remembrance Poppies

War Room (detail) - Perforated paper negatives left over from production of British Legion Remembrance Poppies

The rows of empty spaces in War Room, created from a left over remnant from the 45 million remembrance poppies made each year, echoes the endless symmetry of war graves.  The two layers of paper hung closely together create a double negative effect.
 

Composition with Horns - Cornelia Parke

Flattened by a 250-ton industrial press the objects appear folded in on themselves giving a new symmetry.

The Distance (A Kiss with String Attached) - Auguste Rodin's The Kiss, a mile of string

The shed is fascinating, the embroideries and War Room thoughtful and the instruments, interesting however I'm not sure that the mile of string couldn't have been better used elsewhere - you may disagree.

Part 2 at St Pancras (One More Time) & the British Library (Magna Carta - An Embroidery) coming soon ...