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Heather Peak, born in Desborough, Northamptonshire, and Ivan Morison, born in Istanbul, Turkey, together have an international practice which specialises in bringing together different peoples, cultures and histories in the creation of works of fantasy and escape. The rituals of sharing and exchange which they employ often involve random acts of kindness. They live and work in Brighton and North Wales. I am so sorry. Goodbye comprises two intersecting geodesic spheres, hand-built from wood harvested from naturally fallen trees in Tatton Park, and functions as shelter, observatory and performance space, where visitors are served tea. The Morisons' 'escape vehicle' unifies two acts, of making and use, in a way that can be read as a complex set of social rituals. It was commissioned by Tatton Park Biennial in 2008, and in 2009 installed at the Barbican Centre. The Black Cloud, a new public artwork by Heather and Ivan Morison, is a towering wooden pavilion inspired by the Amazonian dwellings of the Yanomamo tribe. Constructed using the Amish principles of communal participation, it is protected from the elements by an ancient Japanese scorching technique. The panelled structure is further overlaid with the artists' own dark narrative: the Morisons' propose that it is a shelter for a future apocalyptic world scorched black by the unrelenting sun. Hybrid in style, The Black Cloud in turn reflects many of the references that oscillate throughout the artists' wider practice, including the prophetic visions of twentieth century science fiction writers and the urgent contemporary concerns of the Arts & Ecology movement, as well as the real world application of collectivist ideals within controlled environments. Commissioned by Situations at the University of the West of England, it was made possible by the enthusiasm and support of Bristol City Council, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the University of the West of England and Spike Island and was conceived during the artists' month-long Arts and Ecology residency in Bristol in 2007, organised by the RSA Arts and Ecology programme and Situations. Heather and Ivan Morison create narratives from blending factual recall with fiction and from merging the mythology of their own lives, based in a Welsh woodland, with the lives of the people they encounter. The significance of words for their practice is portrayed by silent "guardians of the word", by lengthy titles, by plays, by narratives and by mailings. A mailing was commissioned for the Museum of Garden History in London: "Mr & Mrs Ivan Morison do not understand it. Why are they cutting down all the Siberian larches?" For their current exhibition at Open Satellite, Seattle, the Morisons have built a large timber prototype of one of their forthcoming kite sculptures, Frost King, a charred wreck of a modernist façade imbued with the possibility of flight. This new work was constructed from local trees that had to be felled to make way for a new commercial building to be built by the same development company that supports Open Satellite. Made of heavy timber beams and clap boards, milled on the construction site, and burnt to charcoal, the sculptural prototype fills the full length and height of the gallery. Their project at Open Satellite encompasses sculpture as well as the process of its creation and display. In addition to representing Wales at the 2007 Venice Biennale Heather and Ivan have exhibited their work as far afield as Tasmania, New York, Toronto and Vancouver. Other more local solo exhibitions and projects have taken place at the Bloomberg Space, Camden Arts, Ikon Gallery Birmingham and Void Derry in Northern Ireland. They are represented by Danielle Arnaud contemporary art. The Morisons have been commissioned by Art and Sacred Places to make work for an interfaith project in Manchester. May 2010 |
