Last Supper' and 'M25 London Orbital' Invited Commissions

Closing Date: 2006-Sep-29
'Last Supper' was a time-based work sited in the Raphael Room at the VandA. The work is based upon Leonardo's 'Last Supper' and consists of 20 raw clay blocks that are casts of the double and single ovens in 13 electric cookers salvaged from a municipal tip in Plymouth. The original cooker elements were embedded in the clay blocks. The colours of the blocks, the choice of single or double blocks and their position on the 6.5m base and are taken from Leonardo's fresco. The cookers were fired in random sequence for 7 minutes each over a period of 2 hours.

M25 London Orbital was a ceramic replica of Scalextric track manufactured by CTM Ltd, a ceramics engineering company in Birmingham. The track is a 1:5000 scaled version of the M25 London Orbital and negotiated the inside and outside of the VandA sculpture court. An Arts Council Grant for the Arts was awarded to cover the costs of manufacture and installation of this work. Two 38 metre electric heating elements are laid into the slots on the track and filled with a mixture of glaze frit and cobalt. It was intended that the track would be heated to 900 degrees Celsius and that two lines of blue glass would be created around the track. Due to technical difficulties the work was unable to be fired on the night. The work will be shown as part of a solo show at Permanent Gallery, Brighton in January 2008.

An AHRC Small Grants Award was made to document and disseminate the event through photography and film. Working in partnership with TV company Two- four Communications in the production of a DVD and broadcast quality show-reel of the VandA pieces and other recent works to be shown in Brighton in January 2008.