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In 'The Stones of Venice', John Ruskin takes issue with Palladio, the architect associated with the method of building exemplified by many of the buildings in Venice. Palladio's approach works against any 'ambulant' method, being formal, pre-planned, engineered - Stones of Venice is an investigation and reflection on an 'ambulant' process of building. Rather than have some external, absolute criteria to grade against, I used relative weight, size and shape, grading each stone by hand and eye, one against each other; The stones are arranged according to how far I thought that I could throw them, re-introducing the social forces that act on them in both production and, more importantly in their use. The paving blocks used here are from Padua and are one of only two types of stone that can be used for paving in many areas of Venice. |
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Installation view of The Stones of Venice: Approximately 300 paving blocks arranged according to how far I thought that they could be thrown. | |
During the period of research and development of The Stones of Venice, many cities that I'd visited were undergoing the cosmetic changes associated with the 'regeneration' of urban areas; this is a detail of paving construction in Cardiff, Wales; similar construction was taking place across Venice, (most noticeably on Giudecca). |
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The Stones of Venice makes formal reference to Carl Andre's Equivalent series. Where Andre used uniform, interchangebale blocks of building material, arranged precisely, scaled to the average dimension of a male adult, (“ Andre's work is about being a body in the world, and about measuring that world against ourselves.” Adrian Searle, Whitechapel Gallery press release, 7 July - 27 August 2000.) |