2020-11-01 The World of Interiors

4 inspiration PHOTOGRAPHY: LIAM STEVENS (8)

146 Some of the design effects in this issue,
1 recreated by Grace McCloud

1 If the golden insects bringing life

to Federico Forquet’s tapestry have
given you the bug,buzzWill Bishop.
The jeweller sells vermeil dragonfly
2 andhoney-beebrooches(£130each)
just like those on page 92. Ring 01787
210251,or visit willbishop.co.uk.

2 Forquet had the right idea when it came to

seating: his eau-de-nil bedroom chaise with
room enough for two is at once sumptuous and
spacious (page 94). Loaf is also on to a winner
with its very own version: this soft green‘Crum-
pet’loveseat costs £1,445.Visit loaf.com.

3 So great is the collection of framed fronds in

the tastemaker’s Tuscan house that they’ve a
room named after them (page 97).Yearning for
3 fernery or botanicals of your own? Adelphi spe-
cialises in framed specimens. Shown: two from
a set of six early 20th-century German herbari-
ums (£540).Visit adelphigallery.com.

4 Harmony, believes Federico Forquet, lies

in life’s small pleasures, which might
explain the cornucopia of colour-
ful cushions throughout his house
(pages 96 and 98). No doubt he’d

approve, then, of Robert Kime’s covet-
able creations. Pictured:‘Turkoman Stripe’,
£280, and ‘Ikat Tian’, £250. Ring 020 7831
6066, or visit robertkime.com.

5 Have you twigged that the Italian de-

signer has a bit of a thing for Umberto Pasti’s
furniture fashioned from, er, twigs (pages 97
5 and 98)? His latest range, made in Morocco,
is sold by Caravane.This‘Jardin Rêvé’coffee
table costs from £880.Visit caravane.co.uk.

6 Glaze tests make pretty pieces of pottery in

their own right – look at those made by Joanet
Artigas (page 104).The good news is you don’t
even need a kiln for such kaleidoscopic crea-
tions either: these ‘Color Key’ (left) and ‘19th-
Century Indian Color Study’ trays cost $82 and
$55 respectively from John Derian. Ring 001
800 677 3207, or visit johnderian.com.

7 From rags to riches: Louisa and Lewis Creed

are behind the cheerful charming rugs made

6

7 8
9
from scraps in Mark Hearld’s Georgian home
(pages 120 and 125). While her husband no 10
longer makes them, Louisa’s still in business – 11
her prices start at £400. Shown:‘Summer Land­
scape’.Visit louisa­creed­ragrugs.co.uk. 12

8 Many things in the Hearld house of wonders

make us purr with pleasure,but none more than
the festive felines strung across the back par­
lour’s fireplace (page 121).Available from Mam­
elok, the ‘Christmas Cat’ garland costs £5.50.
Ring 01954 268034, or visit mamelok.com.

9 Marcus Jacka of Non­Standard is behind

much of Mark Hearld’sYork house,from the con­
servatory ceiling (page 123) to the bathroom
panelling (page 125). He’s now created this ex­
tendible island table (from £2,800) based on the
kitchen he crafted there,and word has it Mark’s
a fan of his ladderback chairs (£950) too… Ring
07914 838461,or visit non­standard.co.uk.

10 The ornate white table in Nan Swid’s living

room is by a past master of plaster (page 126),
but that doesn’t mean you can’t find something
similar today.Cast a glance in the direc­
tion of Oriel Harwood,who has previ­
ously collaborated with the likes of Rose
Uniacke (pictured) and also takes on
bespoke commissions (from £5,000).
Visit orielharwood.co.uk.

11 Nan Swid has worked with a host

of hotshots on her apartment over the
years, including Stephen Sills (WoI May
2018). Our favourite of the debonair
designer’s touches? It has to be that
flawless hall floor (page 131). Yours
too? Get Lapicida on the case.From top:‘Nash’,
from £594 per sq m; ‘Illusion’, £474 per sq m.
Ring 01423 400100, or visit lapicida.com.

12With a weakness for Greekness,

we went to Herculean efforts to find a
match for the fabulous Thebes stool
in the Manhattan living room (page
128).Philhellenes rejoice: Theodore
Alexander’s ebonised beechwood
‘Hayward Victorian’ costs $924 from
Kathy Kuo. Ring 001 888 908 2925,
or visit kathykuohome.com. r

1 inspiration
2
1 When snow falls at the foot of the Tatras,
3
4 Katia’s homemade paper blooms must perk
up her cottage (page 142).Where to get such
5 floribunda, you wonder? Meri Meri’s‘Flower

Garden’garland,£18,is a blooming mar­
vellous match.Ring 01242 575868,
or visit merimeri.co.uk.

2 Admire the traditional table­

ware that hangs on the Zako­
pane cabin’s walls (page 142)?
Art Polish Pottery sources – you
guessed it – authentic ceramic bits
from Bolesławiec that are both pretty
and practical. Shown:‘Peacock’ breakfast plate,
£15;‘Daisies’oval baker,£38.Ring 07891 294088,
or visit artpolishpottery.co.uk.

3 How to make a humble cabin homely? Look

to the owners of the Polish cottage – and the vi­
brant vintage rag mats on their beds (page 143).
Albeit Scandi, Rugs of Sweden’s‘Upplands Hag­
ar’ (top), 1950s, and‘Smålands Näshult’, 1940s,
are strikingly similar; £85 approx each. Ring 00
46 703 351685, or visit rugsofsweden.com.

4 While almost all in the Zakopane house is

made of wood, we’d wager that the floor is only
made to look as though it is (page 142). Con­
veniently cleanable, rather believable and cheap­
er than the real deal,limed­oak‘Parquet’vinyl is
available from Harvey Maria for £39.28 per sq m.
Ring 0330 330 1231, or visit harveymaria.com.

5 Pierre Paulin’s furniture (page 78) is as styl­

ish now as it was when it graced Bond sets
in the 1970s. Happily,Artifort still makes
the Modern maestro’s chairs in an array
of fabrics. From left:‘Mushroom (F560)’,
£1,878, and ‘Tulip (F545)’, £2,332. Ring
00 31 73 658 00 40, or visit artifort.com.

6 By Jupiter! While less rich in colour

these days, the mosaic floors of the Bres­
cia temple remain as resplendent (page
84). They haven’t dated a jot, either – not
bad for 2,000 years. Luckily, the art’s not
lost.De Ferranti’s tesserae designs are just
the ticket.‘Piccola Croce’, left, costs from
£1,695 per sq m,and‘Mosaic Field’from £1,269.
Ring 020 7384 4424, or visit deferranti.com $

6

I N D E XTHE INTERIORS

The Interiors Index, The World of Interiors’ new online
directory of shops, galleries and services is now live.

Visit worldofinteriors.co.uk/interiors-index
to search those specialists whose ethos of quality

and style mirrors that of the magazine itself.



Frozen assets, bonnie on the Clyde, Nauman’s land, plus Charlotte Edwards’s listings

diar yEXHIBITION

OPPOSITE: PETER THE GREAT MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND ETHNOGRAPHY (KUNSTKAMERA), RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. © MAE RAS. THIS PAGE, BOTH IMAGES: THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM Arctic: Culture and Climate BRITISH MUSEUM Great Russell St, London WC1

On the first of Cape Farewell’s expeditions to the High Arctic, we here. A 17th-century ‘magic drum’, used for generations by Sámi
arrived in southern Spitsbergen aboard the schooner Noorderlicht spiritual leaders (noaidi) before they were persecuted by Christian
having endured five days of heaving waves and wild winds across missionaries, is a work of wonder: one of the oldest drums in
a sea known as ‘the Devil’s Dance Floor’. It was mid-May, the sun the world, it has a reindeer skin covered with mystical designs
did doughnut circles 24/7 above our heads, and we had to break painted in ink made from chewed alder bark. Some of the clothes
through the last of the winter ice to make passage into the fjord. and weapons on show had ceremonial purposes, but all are
The crew of 20 artists and climate scientists came up on deck shaped by practical considerations. An Alutiit wooden visor in
from the seasick mess of below. Sound artist Max Eastley low- the shape of a seal’s head would shield the wearer’s eyes from
ered a hydrophone into the water and began ‘broadcasting’ the the glare of sun on snow or water, as well as serving as a hunter’s
unworldly, cascading calls of bearded seals mating, which ech- decoy. Other artworks, such as Cossack amateur painter Nikolai
oed around us as we slept that daylit night. The magic continued Shakhov’s watercolours of everyday life in western Siberia, rep-
for the duration of our 14-day expedition. The Arctic is a place resent outsiders’ views of indigenous peoples.
like no other; a place of frozen light and ice, but also of folklore
and shamans and creativity. How this culture has been affected by climate change is a rela-
tively new phenomenon, and it is here, in the exhibition’s choice
The British Museum exhibition Arctic: Culture and Climate of works from the last 50 years of Arctic history, that I miss any
tracks the lives of the 40 ethnic groups who call this landscape sense of challenge. Where is Zacharias Kunuk’s film Qapirangajuq,
home. It narrates through objects the culture of these northern presenting the Inuit perspective on climate change? Where is
peoples, describing a way of living that has a unique place in the art that addresses the underlying issues of race and Western
human evolution. Physical traces of the earliest Arctic settle- arrogance? After all, endangered global cultures are picking up
ments – artefacts made of bone, tusk and skin, scratched with the tab of the environmental destruction that they have had no
tiny marks and images, giving insight into hunting and story- hand in creating. That said, this wonderful, celebratory exhibi-
telling – date back 30,000 years, long before the ice loosened its tion must have a key part to play in asking us to rein in and re-
grip on the British isles. verse the legacy of our ‘advanced’ lifestyle. ARCTIC: CULTURE AND
CLIMATE runs 22 Oct-21 Feb, Mon-Sun 10-5, advance booking
As a dominant world monoculture expanded in the name of essential at britishmuseum.org $ Artist DAVID BUCKLAND is the
civilisation, sweeping all before it, pockets of Inuit and other founder and international director of the Cape Farewell programme,
Arctic cultures somehow survived, retaining their shamanistic initiating cultural responses to the climate crisis (capefarewell.com)
wildness and their myths. Both are illuminated by the exhibits

Opposite: Nikolai Shakhov, Sea Bay, Cossack, Salekhard, Russia, 1830-40, watercolour on cotton. This page, top left: wooden visor, Alutiit,
Prince William Sound, Alaska, US, before 1778. Top right: reindeer-skin, felted wool, glass and ivory drawstring bag, Sámi, Jämtland, Sweden, 20th-century

THE Shutterstock
COLOUR

ISSUE

DECEMBER ISSUE
ON SALE 5 NOVEMBER

ALL IMAGES: COURTESY THE FLEMING COLLECTION diar yEXHIBITION

The Glasgow Boys & Girls

GRANARY GALLERY Dewar’s Lane, Berwick-upon-Tweed

The Glasgow Boys were a loose, shape-shifting group. Many of them were not
from Glasgow and they weren’t even all Boys, as several prodigiously talented
women artists are to be found among their number. No matter. This timely exhi-
bition at Berwick-upon-Tweed’s Granary Gallery highlights these facts by show-
ing not telling. The setting is perfect: England’s most northerly town is just along
the coast from Cockburnspath in the Scottish Borders. The group painted in the
village for several summers, forming an artists’ colony during the early 1880s.

The exhibition – staged by Berwick Visual Arts and the Fleming Collection – is
split into two sections. The first focuses on the artists’ preoccupation with French
Realism and depicting ordinary rural life, the second on their growing fascination
with portraiture and symbolism. Among the show-stoppers is Flora Macdonald
Reid’s contemplative depiction of workers harvesting potatoes, which glows with
autumnal hues. George Henry’s sketch Girl Reading highlights a gung-ho approach
that declares it’s not what you draw, it’s the way that you draw it, while Bessie Mac-
Nicol’s Lady of Fashion is the work of a preternaturally gifted painter of women.
MacNicol, who died in childbirth aged 35, was clearly the equal of all the Boys.

James Guthrie, referred to as the group’s leader, preferred the name ‘Glasgow
School’. In the late 19th century the Second City of the Empire was a rumbus-
tious, prosperous industrial hub. Its self-made millionaires bought art like it
was going out of fashion. At the centre of it all was the Glasgow School of Art,
and, crucially, its director, Fra Newbery, encouraged male and female students
equally. In the late 1870s, Guthrie and his friends Joseph Crawhall and Edward
Walton were among the first of the young artists to rebel against the Victorian
passion for highland landscapes and narrative paintings (they dismissed their
forebears as ‘Glue-Pots’ because of the heavily varnished nature of their work).
Others such as Arthur Melville, WY MacGregor and John Lavery were indepen-
dently following the lead of French Realists like Courbet and Millet by training in
Paris. Their hero was ‘peasant painter’ Jules Bastien-Lepage, with his fascination
for tonal painting and dispassionate observation of everyday country scenes.

The group was internationally fêted; following the Glasgow International
Exhibition of 1888, their work toured Europe and America, and their style of
painting was still taught at the GSA into the late 20th century. Some of their pic-
tures may appear hackneyed or sentimental today; others haven’t lost their daring.
Influenced by Japanese art and maverick Frenchman Adolphe Monticelli, Edward
Hornel’s Children at Play, for instance, is rammed with impasto paint and rich col-
our emphasising pattern and texture. There’s easily enough in this, the first UK
show in ten years, to allow us to view these Boys – and Girls – with fresh eyes. THE
GLASGOW BOYS & GIRLS runs until 15 Nov, Wed-Sun 11-4, advance booking essential
at berwickvisualarts.co.uk $ JAN PATIENCE is a journalist and author based in Glasgow

From top: John Lavery, The Bridge at Hesterworth, Shropshire, c1884, oil on canvas; Flora Macdonald
Reid, Fieldworkers, 1883, oil on canvas; William York MacGregor, Near St Andrews, date unknown, oil on canvas

diar yEXHIBITION

Bruce Nauman TATE MODERN Bankside, London SE1

In one of his earliest video works, Bruce Nauman walks the out- for Nauman’s reputation as an ‘artists’ artist’, revered by fellow TOP LEFT: TATE, CENTRE POMPIDOU, MUSEE NATIONAL D’ART MODERNE, PARIS & KUNSTMUSEUM BASEL. TOP RIGHT: COLLECTION BENESSE
line of a square marked on the floor of his Californian studio. An practitioners but not (yet) as celebrated by a wider public, par- HOLDINGS, INC./BENESSE HOUSE MUSEUM, NAOSHIMA. COURTESY SPERONE WESTWATER, NEW YORK. BOTTOM LEFT: THE ART INSTITUTE
artist’s studio is often perceived as a sacrosanct space of deep ticularly in the UK. Indeed, his impact can be seen in everything OF CHICAGO. BOTTOM RIGHT: MUSEUM BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN, ROTTERDAM. ALL IMAGES: © ARS, NY AND DACS, LONDON 2020
thought or fevered outpourings of creativity. But Nauman found from Jenny Holzer’s text pieces and Tracey Emin’s neons to Rachel
that much of his day consisted of pacing around drinking coffee. Whiteread’s negative-space sculptures and the provocative as-
‘There’s a lot of time just spent in the studio without anything in semblages of Paul McCarthy. Nauman’s own influences include
particular happening,’ he would later reflect. So he made works Samuel Beckett, the composer Steve Reich and Auguste Rodin.
of art out of simply being there. Walking in an Exaggerated Manner
Around the Perimeter of a Square (1967-68) and similar pieces shot on However, it was Marcel Duchamp who laid the foundations
16mm film, which drew on processes used in early performance for his belief that you can make art from anything and every-
and video art but with Nauman’s added sense of the absurd, will thing. Or from nothing at all. He has created sculptures that ren-
be on show in this major retrospective at Tate Modern. der an object ‘conspicuous by its absence’, such as A Cast of the
Space Under My Chair (1965-68), and filmed his empty studio at
Nauman’s work often draws on the limitations of language, night in MAPPING THE STUDIO II… (2001), a near six-hour-long
inspired by Ludwig Wittgenstein’s writings. In the late 1960s, in video in which little happens except for the occasional mouse
response to a beer advertisement opposite his studio, he com- scuttling by or a moth fluttering into view.
bined these sometimes complex theories with that staple of mid-
century American popular culture, the neon sign. His work in the Nauman’s six-decade career has run the gamut of artistic
medium can be both playful and provocative, demonstrating his media: performance, video, sound work, installation, drawing,
dark humour in pieces such as the spoonerism Run from Fear, Fun sculpture. And he is never afraid to try out new materials. Hav-
from Rear (1972). His installations can also make viewers physi- ing worked with nascent hologram technology to create self-
cally uncomfortable, whether through the induced claustropho- portraits in the late 1960s, he has now mapped his New Mexico
bia of structures like Double Steel Cage Piece (1974) or the shouts and studio in minute detail using 3D modelling to document the
repetitive refrains in video works such as Clown Torture (1987). space’s everyday detritus – which, by the looks of it, still involves
a fair amount of coffee. BRUCE NAUMAN runs 7 Oct-21 Feb, Mon-Sun
Tate’s show should go some way to helping make sense of a dis- 10-6, advance booking essential at tate.org.uk $ JOSE DA SILVA is
parate and at times challenging oeuvre; one that perhaps accounts exhibitions editor at ‘The Art Newspaper’

Clockwise from top left: MAPPING THE STUDIO II with color shift, flip, flop, & flip/flop (Fat Chance John Cage), 2001, video, seven projections,
colour and sound (mono), five hours 45 mins; One Hundred Live and Die, 1984, neon tubing with clear glass tubing on metal monolith;

Double Steel Cage Piece, 1974, steel; Clown Torture, 1987, four channel video with sound (two projections, four monitors), one-hour loop approx

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MANY GALLERIES are open by appointment or

with advance bookings only. Check online before you visit

1

1 Nuts about

Futurism – Fortunato BRITAIN LONDON ESTORICK COLLECTION CANONBURY SQUARE, N1 Until

Depero’s ‘bolted ARTANGEL TRINITY BUOY WHARF, ORCHARD PLACE, 17 Jan. Wed-Sat 11-6, Sun 12-5. Rugs, fabrics and

book’, 1927, at the E14 30 Oct-6 Dec. From dusk. Beam me up: two designs from the archives of Genoan textile

Estorick. 2 In the hot decades after his 1,000-year-long composi- firm MITA, which collaborated with the great

seat – John Minton, tion Longplayer began transmitting from the Italian Modern artists and designers over 50

Portrait of Eric lighthouse here, Jem Finer has encoded the years to create commissions for private homes,
Verrico, 1947-48, at music in a ray of light, sent out across the fairs,clubs and ocean liners.
the Fine Art Society. Thames. Book a ferry ride to experience it. FINE ART SOCIETY CARNABY ST, W1 Until 14 Nov. Ring

3 Sails of the century BARBICAN CENTRE SILK ST, EC2 Until 24 Jan. Mon- 020 7629 5116 for appointment. ‘The Best Shop in

– JMW Turner, The Fri 12-7, Sat, Sun 11-7. In the Curve, Toyin Ojih London’, according to Sickert, reopens in this
Battle of Trafalgar, as Odutola installs her drawings – which pose as Soho townhouse with characteristic juxta-
Seen from the Mizen life-size scans of rock art created by an ancient positions of 19th- and 20th-century art and
Starboard Shrouds female-led civilisation – in a dramatic mono- design: Camden Town and London Group
of the Victory, 1806- chrome frieze. 7 Oct-3 Jan. Mon-Fri 11-7, Sat, Sun paintings, Dresser and Ashbee silver, Gerald
08, at Tate Britain. 10-7. A portrait of radical dancer and chore- Summers’s plywood furniture.

2 ographer Michael Clark and his collabora- GALLERY 8 DUKE ST, SW1 22-31 Oct & 29 Oct-7 Nov.

tors in art, music and fashion. Visit asianartinlondon.com for details. Choice deal-

BLUE SHOP COTTAGE GROVE LANE, SE5 21-28 Oct. ers: Indian miniatures from Rita Dixit and

Mon-Sun 10-6. Fish for compliments: Beatrice Sanjay Kapoor, Japanese lacquerware from

Hasell McCosh’s shimmering oils inspired by Simon Pilling, contemporary prints from

the swish, dash and flicker of koi carp. Hanga Ten – this space-for-hire will be some-

BROOKFIELD PROPERTIES & CRAFTS COUNCIL 99 thing of a hub for the 2020 Asian Art in Lon-

BISHOPSGATE, EC2 Until 9 Nov. 8-6. Matt Smith don festival, which is divided into two, focus-

repurposes china ornaments (he’s a big fan ing on Indian and Islamic art for the first 10

of black Parian) and unravels found textiles days, and East Asian art thereafter.

in his ongoing excavations of outmoded craft PILAR CORRIAS EASTCASTLE ST, W1 6 Oct-28 Nov.

materials and techniques. Mon-Fri 11-6. The recent limits imposed on

COLNAGHI BURY ST, SW1 6 Oct-27 Nov. Ring 020 7491 physical intimacy, and our new way of see-

7408 for appointment. Dormant assets: depic- ing through screens, glass or masks, inform

tions of dreams and the night in diverse art Christina Quarles’s latest paintings of ambig-

3 and objects from antiquity to the present. uous,contorted and blurred figures.
CONINGSBY GALLERY TOTTENHAM ST, W1 2-7 Nov. ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS PICCADILLY, W1 6 Oct-3 Jan.

Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 10-4. Taxonomic charts and Wed-Sun 11-5. Two’s company: Jane and Louise

sumptuous drawings for Folio Society edi- Wilson are the first artist-duo to coordinate

tions by designer and illustrator Neil Packer. the delayed Summer Exhibition, assembling

CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS GREAT RUSSELL ST, WC1 1,000 works tackling ideas of community,

22 Oct-14 Nov. Wed-Fri 11-4, Sat 11-2.30 & 3-6.30. immigration and protest, as well as Isaac

Akiko Hirai’s encrusted moon jars and other Julien’s two-gallery tribute to curator Okwui

vessels, thrown, coiled or cast, and decorated Enwezor (1963-2019).

with metal- or mineral-rich slips. SOUTH LONDON GALLERY PECKHAM RD, SE5 Until

CRISTEA ROBERTS PALL MALL, SW1 23 Oct-21 Nov. 29 Nov.Wed-Sun 11-6. Wander through a field of

Mon-Fri 11-4, Sat 11-2. Through a glass darkly: glitter or hop on a mirror-wheeled bike in

Cornelia Parker has mastered the photogra- Ann Veronica Janssens’s installations testing

vure process to create her spectral, shadowy our perception of light and colour.

still-life arrangements of bottles and jars. TATE BRITAIN MILLBANK, SW1 28 Oct-7 March. Mon-

DAVID HILL GALLERY LADBROKE GROVE, W10 Until Sun 10-6. Steam-age kicks: Turner began his

4 5 27 Nov. Thurs-Sat 11-5. Once viewed with suspi- career as a topographical watercolourist, and

cion, not least because of its association with considered himself a landscape painter; but

colonial administrations, portrait photogra- this exhibition attests he was the ultimate art-

phy became a vehicle for self-expression in ist of modern life, documenting the impact

4 Epic undertaking – newly independent West African nations after of industrialisation, revolution and reform
Neil Packer, The Iliad
illustration, 2015, at 1950. This survey focuses on leading lights on early 19th-century British society.

Coningsby Gallery. Malick Sidibé (Mali), Sanlé Sory (Burkina WADDINGTON CUSTOT CORK ST, W1 6 Oct-17 Nov.
5 Parian state – Matt
Smith, The Pearl Seller, Faso), Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou and Ra- Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 11-6. Fabienne Verdier applies
2020, at Brookfield
chidi Bissiriou (Benin). her swirling imagery onto canvas
Properties. 6 Point
made – Michael Clark DRAWING ROOM RODNEY PLACE, from a platform, using giant
in MmmÉ, 1992, at
the Barbican. 7 In my SE17 Until 1 Nov. Wed-Sun 12-6. brushes that she suspends

dreams – northern The medium is the message: from the ceiling.
French stained glass,
1525-50, at Colnaghi 19th- and 20th-century art WHITE CUBE MASON’S YARD,

produced in seances, trances SW1 Until 14 Nov. Tues-Sat 10-4.

or surrealist experiments, via Palms d’or: Baselitz’s ‘gold-

automatism or in dialogue en hands’ drawings, paint-

with ghostly entities. ings and bronzes.

6
7

diar yEXHIBITION

1

OUTSIDE LONDON ST IVES TATE ST IVES 24 Oct-3 May. Mon-Sun 10-5.20. 1 Death becomes 2
Haegue Yang makes elegant installations out him – Henry Wallis,
BIRMINGHAM IKON Until 22 Nov. Tues-Sun 11-4. An of the most unpromising materials, turning
animatronic raven croaking out corporate Venetian blinds into Naum Gabo-esque float- Chatterton, 1856,
slogans, a room of jittery motorised trees ing abstractions. Here she takes on St Ives’s in Bristol. 2 Met with
and other darkly comic kinetic sculptures Modernist heritage with geometric room
by Kristof Kintera addressing the impact of dividers and drying-rack sculptures, while approval – Simone
human activity on the environment. anthropomorphic straw figures on wheels Martini, Madonna and
threaten to disrupt proceedings.
BRISTOL ARNOLFINI Until 1 Nov. Thurs-Sun 12-5. Child, c1326, in New
Hassan Hajjaj makes images that upend the SUNDERLAND SUNDERLAND MUSEUM & WINTER York. 3 Rambling
conventions of advertising and fashion pho-
tography and play on Orientalist and other GARDENS Until 1 Nov. Mon-Sat 10-4. Respect your on – George Henry,
‘exotic’ stereotypes. Until 22 Nov, Chantal Joffe’s elders: Arts Council Collection works made Landscape, undated, in
portraits of herself and her daughter, some- by artists later in life. Until 15 Nov, fort worth:
how both intimate and monumental. castles in National Gallery paintings. Eastbourne. 4 Straw
RWA Until 18 Oct. Thurs-Sat 11-3. Bristol-born pull – Haegue Yang, The
poet Thomas Chatterton died 250 years ago WELBECK HARLEY GALLERY Until 1 Nov. Tues-Sun
at the age of 17 – a demise famously drama- 10-4. The Welbeck estate and collections in- Intermediate – Tilted
tised in Henry Wallis’s 1856 painting, on loan spire Joanna Whittle’s mysterious paintings Bushy Lumpy Bumpy,
from Tate. 14 Nov-7 March, the 168th annual of pavilions and gateways, and ceramics that
open exhibition, with work by invited RAs purport to be relics of a lost world. 2016, in St Ives.
Frank Bowling and Rebecca Salter.
FRANCE CHANTILLY DOMAINE DE CHANTILLY Until 3 3
DUNDEE DCA Until 15 Nov. Wed, Fri-Sun 11-6, Thurs Jan. Mon,Wed-Sun 10-6. Eighteenth-century por- 45
11-7. Stuart Whipps likes to learn on the job; celain from the rival manufacturing centres
previous projects include asking ex-British of Chantilly and Meissen, lavishly staged in 5 Liberty belle –
Leyland workers to teach him how to repair a the white-and-gold rococo apartments by Vincenzo Caprile,
1979 Mini, and deciphering a sign language architect Peter Marino. Elena del Montenegro,
devised by Christopher Wren. Here he turns Princess of Naples,
his hand to horticulture, his grandparents’ PARIS FONDATION CARTIER 24 Oct-7 March. Tues 11- 1899, in Naples.
allotments inspiring a poetic sequence of 10, Wed-Sun 11-8. Exploring our image-satu- 6 Paper trail – Betye
projected images of gardens and produce. rated age, Sarah Sze’s intricate multimedia Saar, page from USA
installations – a spherical 3D collage of torn travel sketchbook,
EASTBOURNE TOWNER Until 16 May. Wed-Sun 10-5. paper, projected light, video and photo- 1988-91, in New York.
Sisters, collaborators and founding members graphs, and a concave steel sculpture reflect- 7 Service animal –
of performance collective the Neo Naturists, ing slivers and shards of imagery – turn Jean Meissen teapot in the
Christine and Jennifer Binnie select works Nouvel’s building into a magic lantern. shape of a monkey,
from the Towner collection that reflect their c1735-40, in Chantilly
interest in ancient landscapes and rituals. GERMANY BERLIN KUNSTBIBLIOTHEK Until 7 Feb.
Expect naked bodies, animal sculptures and Tues,Wed,Fri 10-6,Thurs 10-8,Sat,Sun 11-6. Berlin’s
Sussex vistas, set against or among their own collections of engravings, drawings and or-
painted murals and pottery. 6 Oct-10 Jan, a new nate books by 18th-century polymath Pira-
contemporary-art biennial. nesi, on show to mark his tercentenary.

EAST WINTERSLOW NEW ART CENTRE Until 9 Jan. ITALY NAPLES GALLERIE D’ITALIA Until 24 Jan.Tues-Fri
Mon-Sat 11-4. Edmund de Waal’s new work in 11-7, Sat, Sun 11-8. How Art Nouveau – known
stone and alabaster. Plus, in her sculptures, in Italy as stile Liberty, after the London store
watercolours, wallpaper and weavings, Jacqu- – shaped the culture and architecture of this
eline Poncelet asks how pattern and repeti- newly industrialised city.
tion can express or obscure meaning.
USA NEW CANAAN ELIOT NOYES HOUSE Until 28 Nov.
HENLEY-ON-THAMES INFORMALITY 15 Oct-24 Nov. Sat 10-6. Art and design fair Object & Thing
Tues-Fri 10-6, Sat 11-3. Female artists who use joins forces with galleries Blum & Poe and
photo-based media to engage with the natu- Mendes Wood to show contemporary work
ral world. Meghann Riepenhoff washes her in the home of the Harvard Five architect,
cyanotypes in waves and drapes them over never before open to the public.
bushes; Siobhan McDonald’s photograms are
fragile portraits of the earth’s an- NEW YORK METROPOLITAN MUSEUM Until 3 Jan.
cient plant species. Mon, Sat, Sun 10-5, Thurs, Fri 12-7. The flagship
show of a much-reduced 150th-anniversary
PENZANCE PENLEE HOUSE
programme is a museum-wide
GALLERY & MUSEUM Until 14 tour of over 250 works – old
Nov. Mon-Sat 10-4.30. Inside favourites and rarely exhib-
jobs: best known for their
plein-air paintings, the Newlyn ited fragile treasures – that
School were equally drawn to illuminate key moments in
Cornish interiors. Here are 60 the Met’s history.
works set in cottages, schools, sail-
lofts and studios. MORGAN LIBRARY Until 31 Jan.
Wed-Sun 10.30-5. Going far:
how Betye Saar’s travel sketch-
books feed into her finished col-
lages and assemblages $

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JOURNAL OF A SEED BANK CO-ORDINATOR ILLUSTRATION: MATTHEW RICHARDSON

SEED CAPITAL

DEEP IN A MOUNTAIN ON A REMOTE NORWEGIAN ISLAND LIES A VAULT WHERE A MILLION-PLUS PLANT SAMPLES HAVE BEEN DEPOSITED.

ÅSMUND ASDAL, THE MAN WHO OVERSEES IT ALL, EXPLAINS WHY THESE FROZEN CONTENTS COULD BE CRUCIAL TO HUMANKIND’S SURVIVAL

Genetic diversity of crop plants is crucial for our future food sup-
plies. So it’s inspiring for me to be responsible for the world’s larg-
est repository of seeds from plants used for food and animal
forage. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is located on the island
of Spitsbergen, Norway, some 800 miles from the North Pole. I
became co-ordinator of the project in 2015, though I spend only
perhaps 1 per cent of my time in the vault itself.

The rationale behind the site, which opened in 2008, is that
well-dried seeds packed in watertight containers and stored fro-
zen can maintain viability for a very long time, maybe even a
thousand years. You access three chambers, which form a sort
of underground warehouse, via a long tunnel that descends for
120m inside a sandstone mountain. Earthquakes don’t happen
here. Surrounding permafrost means the seeds would stay fro-
zen even if our cooling system should fail, and it’s high above sea
level, so will remain viable even if the ice caps melt. Despite being
remote, Svalbard offers infrastructure – its airport is the most
northerly commercial-passenger destination – and public ser-
vices such as power supplies, roads and police. Norway enjoys
international trust too and the prospect of safe custody.

Of approximately 1,700 registered genebanks in the world, 88
have now deposited 1,060,073 samples. Researchers and plant
breeders use the DNA of these to develop new crop varieties to
feed growing populations and to adapt agriculture to withstand
climate change, new diseases and changed growing conditions.
Among these genebanks are international research centres –
of rice in the Philippines, wheat and maize in Mexico and trop-
ical crops in India. They might store more than 100,000 seed
samples with us. At the other end of the spectrum are specialist
genebanks: one from Peru deposited seeds of traditional potato
varieties from the Cuzco region; we’ve had vegetable varieties
from the Cherokee Nation; and wild orchid species collected
in threatened rainforests in Myanmar. We even find seed mix-
tures from old meadows at Highgrove, Prince Charles’s estate.
All potentially have the exact genes humanity would require for
dealing with a new plant disease. All genebanks that make their
holdings available for breeding and research are invited to make
a deposit free of charge. GM material is not allowed, however.

Many genebanks have lost parts of their collections because
of natural disasters, such as flooding, war and fire, or lack of re-
sources. Designed as a kind of insurance against such eventuali-
ties, our vault has already proven its value. Based in Aleppo, the
International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas fled
Syria when the conflict there escalated in 2015. Luckily, ICARDA
had deposited more than 116,000 samples with us between 2008
to 2014, so when it came to set up new genebanks in Lebanon and
Morocco, we could return its seeds to be sown in these locations.

It’s a privilege to work in a field so crucial to humanity’s sur-
vival and welfare. I feel honoured, too, to cooperate with a large
global community of farmers and scientists striving to conserve
the earth’s natural treasury. The Seed Vault is a contribution to
the world from my country. To enhance the safety of its con-
tents, £20 million was spent in 2018/2019 upgrading everything
from the entrance tunnel to security systems. Thanks to this
investment Norway, NordGen, the international Crop Trust –
and I – consider the seeds to be safe for the foreseeable future $

172

FROM THE HAND OF W.P. SULLIVAN