Artist Katie Paterson talks about her work and this new Situations commission for Bristol.
Katie Paterson is preparing for her most ambitious permanent public artwork to date produced by Situations. The University of Bristol have commissioned the artist to produce a work to mark the opening of their new Life Sciences building and over the past two years, Bristol-based arts producer, Situations, have worked with Katie to build one of the largest collections of tree species in Bristol which will form the basis of a new artwork, designed by Katie with Zeller & Moye Architectural Studio.
Arnolfini plays host to a significant stage in the making of this new artwork as Katie and researchers and students from the University of Bristol’s Life Sciences department organize the collection of over 10,000 unique tree species over three days prior to fabrication.
Katie Paterson will discuss the stories behind the project and give an insight into the history of the planet through tree species.
Katie Paterson (b. 1981, Scotland) is known for her conceptual artworks that in the past have involved broadcasting the sounds of a melting glacier live to a visitor on a mobile phone in an art gallery, mapping all the dead stars, compiling a slide archive of the history of darkness across the ages, custom-making a light built to simulate the experience of moonlight, and burying a nano-sized grain of sand deep within the Sahara desert. She was winner of the Independent’s Creative 30 award ‘for Britain’s most creative young person’ and has won a 2014 South Bank Sky Arts Award. In 2013 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at Edinburgh University in recognition of her ‘major contribution in fostering collaboration between the arts and sciences’.
Produced by Situations, Hollow will open to the public in Spring 2016 and is funded by the University of Bristol and Arts Council England through Grants for Arts.
