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An exciting illuminated artwork is taking shape within Chester's St John's Church ruins; Cheshire West and Chester Council's Arts and Festivals team are running a workshop on Saturday, 17 September (1pm – 4.30pm) at the Chester Renaissance offices to help develop the work.
Multimedia artist Nayan Kulkarni has been commissioned by Cheshire West and Chester Council's Arts and Festivals and Museum Service, and Chester Renaissance to transform the eastern ruins of St John the Baptist church using light.
The new artwork will illuminate the ruins with a set of computer controlled architectural scale monochrome projections.
Using a specially designed light system the final artwork will be a composition that changes over time constantly remodelling the appearance of the ruins.
The artwork combines two kinds of light. Firstly, the ruins will be illuminated to express their form and texture. Secondly, fading in and out in brightness a series of texts or single words will appear across the surfaces.
The artwork has been inspired by the work of the Mapping Medieval Chester project, exploring the different depictions of Chester in medieval texts and the different languages (Welsh, Latin and Old English) that are used in the medieval literature.
The workshop is led by Nayan, along with Dr Catherine Clarke (Associate Director, Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Research) from University of Swansea who directed the research for Mapping Medieval Chester and now leads an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded Knowledge Transfer project, 'Discover Medieval Chester'. The workshop aims to establish the texts for the installation.
Executive Member for Culture and Recreation, Councillor Stuart Parker, said: "The installation is part of a wider St John's area regeneration, aiming to increase the awareness of the history of the site, improve access to the river and links with the city centre whilst also encouraging increased resident and visitor use and enjoyment of the area.
"This is the first public workshop helping to create a truly unique artwork on one of Chester’s most historic sites."
The installation projections will use four lighting columns along the pathway skirting the church site, adjacent to Grosvenor Park. There will be further workshops later in the year to assess reactions to temporary projections, with final texts being confirmed by January and the completed installation scheduled for January/February 2012.
The workshop is aimed at local people interested in writing and language and/or light, but it isn't suitable for children. Booking is essential, contact Caroline Backhouse, Community Arts and Events Assistant at Cheshire West and Chester Council to reserve your free place on the workshop, tel: 01244 976734.
The St John's installation is part of the St John's area regeneration project commissioned and funded by Cheshire West and Chester Council, Chester Renaissance and The Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Nayan Kulkarni
