Last year I saw the Ai Weiwei’s exhibition at the Royal Academy. His installation S.A.C.R.E.D consisted of six large plain iron boxes. To see inside the viewer has to peer inside small windows which are situated on each side as well as above the box. Each box is a nightmarish uncanny depiction of the brutality of Ai’s time locked inside a cell. What was his ‘home’ for 81 days is shown in perfect detail.
Ai Weiwei (2011) S.A.C.R.E.D [Six-part work composed of six dioramas – Supper, Accusers, Cleansing, Ritual, Entropy, Doubt [fibreglass, iron, oxidised metal, wood, polystyrene, sticky tape] 377 × 198 × 153 cm
Looking inside S.A.C.R.E.D
The outside of each S.A.C.R.E.D room just has a door and the number of the cell -1135. I want the outside of my own rooms to be featureless apart from the viewing windows. However, I do like the idea of putting a house number on the outside, or maybe a house name.
I have experimented with different sized holes and found that to see inside the room you only need the smallest of windows.
The floorboards are now finished and I am pleased with the way they look against the printed wallpaper.
I think I might also add skirting board. The break between the floor and the walls will give the mugshot imagery on the walls more impact. Other things to make are pictures for the walls, a fireplace and a door. I am also thinking of adding in a wall behind which is a secret space.
Along with the rooms, I have been making ink studies of interiors. A trip to Tranmer House at Sutton Hoo has given me lots of source material. The house is what I would call the perfect Cluedo House – a house that is crammed with lots of fascinating objects. Visitors are allowed to sit on the chairs, read books and put music on the gramophone. The house felt alive but at the same time frozen. The seats of the chairs have impressions of the people who had been sitting on them. Next to one chair there was some knitting placed on a table, as if a lady had been there only a moment ago.
Family photographs and paintings are a reminder to all of the comfort of a family home, and yet there is an eerie feel. The home felt haunted.
The kitchen smelt of freshly cooked food. A half eaten meal was left by the sink. In the corner there was objects covered by white fabric. I wondered what was hidden under the ghostly sheets.
Outside I could hear the sound of talking. I walked into the shed to find it coming from an old radio. For a minute I thought someone was standing behind me! As I turned around I saw a life sized, fully clothed, faceless mannequin.
By the door there was a small table with a typewriter on. There is a box full of postcards that someone has been collecting – a collection of memories. Through the door was another room filled with different chairs. Two of the chairs were attached high onto the wall of the room as if they were floating above the others.
I snapped away with my camera, documenting these familiar ghostlike objects and rooms in the mysterious Cluedo house.
Room 1
Laying out printed mugshot wallpaper
Wallpaper attached to card inside room 1
I have made 3 wooden boxes for my miniature rooms. I have decided to stick my printed mugshot wallpaper to card which will fit into the first box. This seems the best way to work as it will enable me to remove anything if it doesn’t look right and make fixes and changes easily.
Floorboards in ink and pencil
I’ve also been painting floorboards for the room which is taking me hours! Other things to make for the room include a door, fireplace and some pictures which will link to what has happened inside that room. I also want to get some cups and plates from a dolls house shop to try in the room. Perhaps placed on a paper table or smashed on the floor. Lighting is another thing to sort out. I can either get tiny lighting for the room or make a roof which will let light in. Lights will probably look better as I will get shadows in the box.
