The project was realised during Gabor Stark’s artist residency within the Arts Council England funded project Art in the Park: Kearsney interpreted. Organised by Dover District Council and supported by DAD Dover Arts Development, the project aimed to engage people through arts and culture and to bring new audiences to Kearsney Abbey and Russell Gardens, two important public parks in Dover, Kent. This involved a series of artist residencies, each culminating in a public event. Within his residency, Gabor Stark continued his investigation into axiomatic structures (Rosalind Krauss, Sculpture in the Expanded Field, 1979), build a site-specific installation, and orchestrated a musical performance at Kearsney Abbey on Saturday 25 August 2018.
Installation: MEANDER (Spiegel im Spiegel im Spiegel)
Painted timber and mirrored Perspex (88 cm x 44 cm x 396 cm)
The axiomatic structure is devised as a peripatetic object. The site-specific installation meandered through Kearsney Abbey, exploring different locations along the River Dour, the culverts and ponds in the park. The structure consists of two looped timber lines and four mirrors. The two zigzag forms are three-dimensional inversions of each other, with the black object acting as the physical shadow of the white one. Four mirrored Perspex planes are held by the structure in four different orientations. The mirrors reflect the changing settings and the installation is mirrored in the water in turn. The diagonal positioning of the mirrors breaks the perfect symmetry of the perpendicular double-structure.
Public event: MEANDERINGS – Art & Music in the Park
On Saturday 25 August, around one hundred visitors enjoyed an afternoon of art and music at Kearsney Abbey in Dover. Gabor Stark had installed MEANDER in one of the open sections of the culvert that meanders through the park, and the Leon String Quartet performed around the installation. The four movements of Philip Glass’s second string quartet Company were followed by an Indian raga and the premiere of Matthew Brown’s Meanderings, a composition inspired by Gabor Stark’s installation and written exclusively for the event. For the fourth and final piece of the concert, Kammy Pike and Karen Jolliffe (violins), Julie Peat (cello) and Matthew Brown (viola) positioned themselves in front of the four mirrors of the MEANDER installation to perform Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque.
Visitors: Approx. 100 visitors. 60% Female / 40% Male; 10% BME; 15% children / Adults of all ages.
Visitors feedback in response to the question: ‘What was the best thing about the event?’:
“How we could just turn up and discover the art and the music in this beautiful setting, and how Gabor Stark responded to the river and used it so well. / Lovely relaxing atmosphere, beautiful music and fantastic artwork. / Excellent balance of sunlight, trees and music and artwork too! / The atmosphere with arts and music immersed in the park. / Atmosphere. /Live music in a pastoral setting was magical. Brilliant sculpture worked well in park. / All of it. The synergy between all parts. /The meanderings event had beauty of many varieties. / Hearing innovative music in a beautiful setting. Please keep up Art in the Park. / The trees. / All of it - the music/surroundings and sculpture. / Combination of music, art and the gorgeous setting. / Combination. / The atmosphere under the tree with the light and music. / Leon Quartet's performance. / Melding of art, music, surroundings and Lux Aurumque. / Location, artists, all brilliant. / The music, art and sunshine! / Fantastic event! / The curation, location, installation with orchestra. / The place. / Atmosphere and environment. / Nice scenery and park. / Chilling in a park.”
