Back to list Ayse Erkmen (Turkey), Tue Greenfort (Denmark),
Knut Henrik Henriksen (Norway), public works (UK),
Esther Stocker (Italy/Austria), Pieter Vermeersch
(Belgium), Leon Vranken (Belgium) 'Beyond These Walls' is an international group
show of specially commissioned work prompting fresh
perspectives on the SLG’s architecture, our negotiation
and interpretation of its spaces, and its geographic
context. For some artists architectural or spatial
interventions are an important strand in their practice,
while for others an exploration of social contexts is
the primary impetus behind their work. Site-specific works transform the gallery and
present an inspiring variety of approaches to using
space and/or architecture as media. Walk into Esther
Stocker's 3D version of a black and white op art
painting and see the SLG's main space transformed by
Pieter Vermeersch's enveloping wall painting, exploring
ideas of moving within and through painting as opposed
to passively observing it. Other pieces relate to the gallery's late 19th
century origins and the marquetry floor panel bearing
the words ‘The source of art is in the life of a
people’. Ayse Erkmen transposes the inscription to
helmets worn by builders of the SLG’s current expansion
project while Leon Vranken’s work makes oblique
reference to the arts and crafts origins of the SLG
building. Four concrete sculptures by Knut Henrik
Henriksen are inspired by the relationship between the
current floor and the original beneath. London-based artist/architect collective public
works' take the social as well as physical reach of the
gallery’s activities as their subject in a live mapping
process which sets out to give visual form to the
various extensions of the SLG, while Tue Greenfort
creates an entrance at the rear of the gallery to
shorten the access route for residents on the
neighbouring housing estate. Harking back to the SLG’s
original layout, Greenfort’s piece also opens up the
sight line running through the central axis of the
building, blurring the boundaries between inside and
out. Beyond These Walls is sponsored by Bloomberg. Additional thanks to the Calouste Gulbenkian
Foundation, The Henry Moore Foundation, the Office for
Contemporary Art Norway, the Danish Arts Council’s
Committee for International Visual Art, The Royal
Norwegian Embassy, The Royal Danish Embassy, the
Austrian Cultural Forum London, Wooster & Stock, the
Church Street Hotel, the residents of Sceaux Gardens
estate, John Perkins Projects, Rob Prewett and first
year students from the BA sculpture course at Camberwell
College of Arts. | 
