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| Gabrielle Hoad & Megan Calver | Fatal exchanges (detail) | Mixed-media, multi-site installation | 2017 |
In 1832 the hounds of the Cotley Hunt were struck by the rabies virus and the Master of the Hunt had to shoot all but one of them. Drawing on this history as well as a series of readings made to trees in Cotley Copse, Fatal exchanges examines a network of deaths resulting from instinct, accident, pleasure and necessity. A rotted beech branch falls on a human head, hunting hounds divert from the urine trail laid for them to chase a live fox, a hare slices off a growing shoot, a taxidermy specimen becomes infested with carpet beetles...
Installed primarily within two interconnecting stables, the piece included objects found on site such as a taxidermy fox, a magpie trap, a pheasant feeder, a rivet maker and wood shavings. An annotated piece of text entitled 'Murder in the Kitchen', drawn from 'The Alice B Toklas Cook Book', was enlarged and pierced with pins. Ambient sound recorded on the estate was slowed to reveal haunting noises within the everyday, and alternated with traditional hunt calls. A hidden fox, drawn in urine, was secreted in the farmyard toilet for discovery with a UV torch.
In a complementary work Read (to) the trees, visitors were invited to visit nearby Cotley Copse where the hounds are buried. There is also a 12-page publication to accompany the work.
'Prospect' Cotley Tithe Barn, Cotley, Somerset TA20 3EP – 6-8 Oct 2017
New work by Megan Calver | Michael Calver |Alice Crane | Mich Downing | Simon Lee Dicker | Jon England | Gordon Field | Liz Gregory | Lucia Harley | Gabrielle Hoad | Nicola Kerslake | Tim Martin | Paul Newman | Andre Wallace
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