Lazy Susan stars in museum film

‘Lazy Susan: Portable Toolkit’ is a stone sculpture which functions as an object handling desk. I am currently touring the sculpture to various archives and museums, to film a series of short (1-2 mins) object presentations by museum professionals.

The sculpture was made in 2014 for the commissioned exhibition ‘Pots before words’ at Gallery II, University of Bradford. The exhibition was a collaboration with Special Collections at the University. I was invited to research and make work in response to The Jacquetta Hawkes Archive, held in the University archives. The work made for Gallery II engages with the life and work of British archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes and is centred on Hawkes’ study of prehistory, pottery and a humanistic approach to Archaeology. This new series of object presentations are an extension to the Gallery II commission.

The marble platform will play host to a series of female curators, archivists and archaeologists and the chosen artefacts of their profession. The work explores the tensions between the subjective and objective in the interpretation and display of archaeological evidence. Objects will be re-animated by the hands of female archaeologists and archivists. The film will focus upon the performative (un-choreographed) gestures for display and interpretation created by the object handler.
Earlier this year, the portable display began at Special Collections at the University of Bradford. In the spirit of its origination from within the Jacquetta Hawkes Archive, the sculpture will continue to several institutions which hold strong connections to the role of women in material sciences, with a focus on archaeology and prehistory.

Most recently I visited UCL Institute of Archaeology, to film a presentation by Amara Thornton. Amara presented books from her own collection, along with archive material from Special Collections at UCL Institute of Archaeology. The presentation highlighted the life and work of Annie Quibell and Agnes Conway Horsfield. The Institute Library seemed like the perfect context for the presentations and I was pleased to be able to set up ‘Lazy Susan’ for filming in the Kenyon Room. With thanks to Amara Thornton, Katie Meheux and Ian Carroll, for their support of the project.

The first phase of the film will be screened in 2016. I am continuing to add to the film with further presentations – to highlight UK collections using ‘Lazy Susan: Portable Toolkit’.

More details on the project are on my website (archived on Internet Archive Wayback Machine).

Kate Morrell, Artist