Cathy Wilkes ' work as a live art piece?

Having spent many hours scrutinising the work of Cathy, I begin to make my own journey through the fragments of a story presented in carefully selected objects; a mix of fabricated and found elements, spaced to leave us in a place of discumfort which our minds desperately try to resolve.

What  the British Council Website says:

"Cathy Wilkes’ exhibition for the Biennale Arte 2019 is bathed in natural Venetian daylight. The unadorned architecture of the British Pavilion provides the setting for an interconnected series of floor-bound sculptural installations, paintings and prints.

Through the measured process of creating her works, Wilkes experiments with all kinds of media and materials, and collects treasures and ingredients. Production – or what we see in the end – is the accumulation of all of these constituent parts. Her work recalls inchoate visions of interiors and places of loss, and meditates on the nature of love and the coexistence of life and death.

Her work also shows the disappearance and dematerialisation of life and the absence and anonymity of the author. Her works, which are all Untitled, render us all non-initiates; together we have equal capacity."

Living with the work daily;

As well as being of extreme precision, the work is also one of the most demanding piece to watch and keep together. 

The work is alive in many ways; metaphorically and physically. Twice daily, we close the gallery to clean the small residues of life brought by the visitors; a contradiction in itself for a work which invites the audience to complete the work and engage in sense making. AS much a bringing a fascinating sense of details, this makes me wonder who the work is aimed at.

The artist refuses to engage with her audience and remains hidden behind the scenes. Nevertheless, the private life portrayed in the gallery is an evident  strong presence of her life and memory.

Taking care and paying attenzione!

One of our jobs is to monitor the bugs appearing in the room or in and on the work. Each element placed in the space has a life of its own; a dirty towel, a dress bought on ebay, a scraring pad, a fragile fabric sagging under the dampness of the Venitian heat. Papier mache tummies and paper books respond to the  humidity and the movement of the crowd, changing shape slightly.

Every hour of the day brings a changing natural light in the space, responding to the elements, to the seasons and to the place.

Visitors are invited to make sense of the work. No text, no prescription.

Our role here is to mediate without prescribing;  an act of gentle conversation, leaving space for silent contemplation for the  viewer to become part of the work. The paintings invite  connections between the elements, the fragmented scenes presented, and the architecture.The light connects it with the outside.

Each visitor begins to re-invente the story.