Conrad Shawcross has been one of my favorite artists ever since I first came across him whilst studying at university. Although he is fairly famous for his light machines, I remember looking at a piece of work called ‘The Nervous System’ which was being shown at the Saatchi Gallery and i was massively bowled over. It was a large contraption weaving coloured rope into a double helix (the shape of DNA), and it produced something like 20,000 metres of this a week. It was just super.

The Nervous System

I was amazed at an artist fusing together these wonderful mechanical contraptions with science, something i wanted to achieve, but didnt quite have the knowledge to do!!

I then went to go and see his work ‘The Steady States’ at the Victoria Miro gallery, and it was even more fantastic than just seeing the images and reading the fluff about it. So since then i have been waiting eagerly for his next piece of work and finally its here!! But unfortunately i found out abit too late to see it (you needed to book tickets) and it finished yesterday! RUBBISH!!!!

Chord

But still Shawcross has excelled himself whilst creating ‘Chord’. ‘Chord’ has been comissioned by Measure and is situated in Holborn. Its actually been built in Kingsway tram subway on Southampton Row, an underground tunnel which has been disused and closed to the public since 1952. He has completely utilised this space by building two machines that run up and down the tracks of the old tube station. As they go up and down the tracks, they are weaving a mass of chord, hence the name. Because of the location of the work, only 20 people are allowed to go view it at any one time, and they  go for an hour tour along the tracks. It almost like going to see a wild beast in its natural habitat.

Chord

Hopefully some art god like Saatchi will buy the machines so I can get the chance to see them. If you want a bit more of Shawcross you can head to the Victoria Miro website who represent him.

Have a good evening.