Tomorrow, Friday 16th March, something exciting yet also bewildering will happen at x-church. At least for the shed. Yes, shed life is not necessarily easy and clearly defined at x-church and other sheds, if they could, would think that what is expected from it is a bit much. I don’t know if sheds have self-esteem or think about class or status, but being shed to an upmarket lawn mower or bike, must mean something. Yet there is nothing of value in this shed, not even a flower pot or gardening gloves. If it was home to ordinary objects like that then it was clearly a long time ago.
I know only little about the previous life of this particular shed other than that it was rescued from an overgrown garden, yet I deeply respect it. This is in part as it is tolerant and open to most if not any preposition put in front of it. In its early life as a resident at x-church it was a safe house to things that Marcus Hammond wanted to lock away. It was also the time when Paul, one of the volunteers decided to give it a name. With tongue in cheek he aptly titled it ‘Chateau Marcus’. Yet the intended purpose of ‘Chateau Marcus’ was not to last. Artists seek opportunities in loose space and consequently it became host to Fenia Kotsopoulou’s beautiful work on feminism and body hair as part of ‘a small group show’ by Slumgothic Artist Resident Curators. This intriguing set of work was a lot to take in and certainly challenged not only the shed but quite a few of its visitors. Then I came along and as urban regeneration is sort of bothering me I decided to see ‘real estate’ in this temporary structure.
And now this Friday, we will host the very first performance and subsequent exhibition in the now pop up gallery space ‘Chateau Marcus’. Joana Cifre Cerdà, a multi-media artists based in Lincolnshire, is the one who takes the inaugural plunge. In ‘I want you to feel the weight of my loss…. or is it the weight of my freedom?’ she will undertake a durational performance exploring the experience of her recent hysterectomy. Almost certainly another challenge for the shed. It also has to deal with being e a gallery space, and I don’t know if this comes easy to a shed and what it does to its status. Yet, as the lovely people x-church, I trust that it will take it in its stride. After all, it has now been placed in the core of x-church and its community. This community has taught me that art matters to life, that it is indeed vital and that without being actively engaged in culture life would have much less to offer. This I find quietly reassuring as at one stage I had serious doubts about the purpose of art.
I should add that ‘Chateau Marcus’ as an exhibition space is not intended to be a one off. It will pop up again, and again, and not necessarily always at x-church. Yes, and we are planning already the next event at ‘Chateau Marcus’, an exhibition of the Gainsborough based photographer Clive MacLennan. Who knows what challenge he chooses to show?
This is is the link to Joana Cifre Cerdà’s opening: https://chateaumarcus.wordpress.com/2018/03/07/joana-cifre-cerda-i-want-you-to-feel-the-weight-of-my-loss-or-is-it-the-weight-of-my-freedom/
This blog post was first published as: https://loosespace.wordpress.com/2018/03/15/chateau-marcus-popping-up-at-x-church/
