Event date: 13 and 17 June 2024
Review by Danusia Wurm
Time Horizon, Houghton Hall 2024 (detail) , Anthony Gormley
Expertly hosted by Amanda Geitner and Caroline Fisher, ncas members were given a fascinating insight into Sir Anthony Gormley’s Time Horizon installation and Dame Magdalene Odundo’s anthropomorphic ceramic and glass artwork, set in the Palladian splendour of Houghton Hall and its extensive grounds.
“Time Horizon is not a picture. It is a field and you are in it”
In one of his largest installations, Antony Gormley has literally seeded the Hall and grounds with 100 life sized sculptures each carefully placed within the landscape and to the same datum level.
Gormley says “ My ambition for this show is that people should roam far and wide. Art has recently privileged the object rather than the experience that objects can initiate. Time Horizon is not a picture. It is a field and you are in it”
By contrast, Dame Magdalene Odundo’s work sits quietly within Houghton Hall challenging the lavish, ornamental grandeur of the interior with an exquisite simplicity of form. Odundo says “It’s all about the human form. We have this internal side of us that makes us who we are, and the external bit that is the embellishment of who we are. And humanity comes from the hidden inside you”.
“It’s all about the human form”
Her centre piece is a monumental ceramic sculpture, created using Wedgewood moulds, which poignantly addresses the themes of slavery and contemporary activism.
Vessel, Magdalene Odundo
Odundo’s show runs until 29 September and Gormley’s Time Horizon until 31 October 2024.
Review by ncas trustee Danusia Wurm