‘WunderKammer’ (literally Wonder Cabinets) is a series of three dimensional magical objects.
They are distillations of ideas inspired
by Angela Carter’s
writing (Nights At The Circus and The Infernal Desire Machines
of
Doctor Hoffman)
with other tales and visions from my own imagination.
The WunderKammer can be situated in a variety of
settings, in nooks
around buildings,
bringing an intimate moment away from the clamour of the public space, or maybe outside, perhaps in a garden or a wooded area in a park,
where they can be discovered, giving a heightened sense of displacement and wonder.
The WunderKammer are inspired and informed
by the tradition of fairground sideshows, Itinerant Peepshows or Raree Shows
and pre-cinema technology (persistence of vision, zoetrope, praxinoscope and flip books), illusion of shadow, mirror, lens, light and movement and the desire to enchant and engage the
imagination.
Both children and adults are invited to become part of each dream, a sharing round the spheres of the subconscious.
WunderKammer are created from an eclectic range of found items, ballcocks, fethers, mirrors, birdcages and domes, that are transformed from the ordinary
and mixed with specially created mechanical and electronic devices to create different eye-spy experiences.
They are designed to engage the viewer’s imagination one after the other in a miniature journey of illusion .
The WunderKammer prototypes were developed in July 2004 and were presented twice in public.
The first showing, in October 2004, was an outdoor setting in Chumleigh Gardens, Burgess Park, London.
As twilight fell the audience were led along an atmospherically lantern lit path to discover two WunderKammer nestled under a leafy pagoda.
The second was an informal indoor gathering in December 2004 for a small number of invited guests at a private event.
On both occasions the audience commented on how they were transfixed by the sound the movement and the quirky design.
The premier of WunderKammer took place in Platt Fields
Park at the Garden of Delights in Manchester in June of 2005, Around 2000 people viewed the WunderKammer over 3 days.
An element of the series was re-worked for the
‘Clock Works - Live Art in a shop window’ series during the 2005 Brighton Festival.
Since then WunderKammer have been exhibited at
WunderKammer continues to be an ongoing and evolving work that continues to delight audiences of all ages and from all backgrounds from all around the country.