Liverpool Cathedrals

Residency : Liverpool Cathedrals Holland and Poulton held a year-long residency in the two cathedrals of Liverpool, during which time six temporary site-specific works were made, including film, installation, and performance. This page includes still images of all six works together with documentary film footage of the three works that used moving image Two Seas : High Water, Ring of Roses : Paper Falls on Stone and Three Vessels : Love’s Labours and an audio recording of the performance work, Heartsounds. It also includes a reading by Peter Halligan of Upon This Rock, a commissioned piece of writing by Chris Lethbridge that was inspired by Holland and Poulton’s work. The page is accompanied by a printed catalogue that includes an essay by Art Historian and Theologian, Dr Rina Arya, and features a further work, Earth and Æther, which the artists made at the invitation of Liverpool Cathedral as part of their 2010 Liverpool Biennial programme. The catalogue is available as a hard copy from the artists and is downloadable as a pdf from this website. Holland and Poulton were nominated for the Northern Art Prize 2009 for the six artworks made during their Cathedrals’ Residency. Click on a tab below to view details of the works. Two Seas : High Water Two Seas : High Water Filey Sea - 00:00 to 03:45 and Hilbre Sea - 03:46 to 06:52 Two Seas : High Water is a film of the two seas that define the east and west coasts of Britain, the North Sea and the Irish Sea. The footage was shot at Filey on the east coast and Hilbre Island on the west coast, these locations evoking ideas of departure and homecoming for the artists. The film was projected onto the High Altar of the Metropolitan Cathedral, in a continuous loop that ran throughout the cathedral’s opening hours. Both seas were filmed at high tide and presented distinctly different characteristics. With no visual reference with which to locate the work, the film simply offered the audience the opportunity to watch the changing movement of the seas and to meditate upon their personal thoughts. Ring of Roses : Paper Falls on Stone Ring of Roses : Paper Falls on Stone Ring of Roses : Paper Falls on Stone was devised and produced in response to a commission by Liverpool Hope University for ‘The Big Hope’ International Youth Congress, the opening and closing ceremonies of which took place at the Metropolitan Cathedral and Liverpool Cathedral respectively. The artists developed an inter-generational participatory artwork involving three distinct communities: delegates of the International Youth Congress, members of The League of Welldoers (a group of elders based in the Scotland Road area of Liverpool) and students from the Rotunda Community College, also in Liverpool. Together they made ten thousand paper petals and over three hundred paper flowers, which were used by the participants and others in processional and interventional events at the two cathedrals. The flower motif was chosen by participants as a universal symbol of peace and welcome. Three Vessels : Love's Labours Three Vessels : Love's Labours Three Vessels : Love’s Labours was made specifically for the Unity Chapel of the Metropolitan Cathedral and reconfigured for the South Choir Aisle of Liverpool Cathedral. The work comprises three steel frames at the bottom of which are three shallow vessels, each one metre in diameter. Projected into the vessels are films depicting the conducting of sacred music, candles being lit and burning, and the polishing of sacristy vessels – three actions connecting external manual activity with internal spiritual thought. Untitled : Unknown Untitled : Unknown View the embedded image gallery online at: https://www.sitematerialobject.com/item/211#sigProIdf3ade26ed2 Untitled : Unknown was a site-specific, time-based, multi-media installation made for the Chapter House of Liverpool Cathedral. It explored the scientific and faith-based theories of ‘creation’. Seven glass vessels rested on a large glass disc suspended from the high balcony of the Chapter House. The edge of the glass disc was inscribed with the symbols of the Periodic Table and the seven glass vessels were inscribed with the opening verses of the Book of Genesis. Six of the vessels were filled with water, upon which floated a thick layer of carbon. Over time, the carbon sank to the bottom of the vessels and the water gradually evaporated. The seventh vessel was empty. Heartsounds Heartsounds This file is audio only Heartsounds was a performed work, made in collaboration with composer Robin Hartwell. Ten short audio recordings of the sounds of a human heart – that of Poulton’s mother, Elsie Price – were developed into a musical score of ten canticles for an unaccompanied, solo female voice. The work was performed live from Liverpool Cathedral’s Corona Gallery at 11am each day, from 18 September to 18 October 2008 by a rota of three sopranos. The words of the ten canticles are a combination of a prayer written by Elsie Price and a eulogy written for her by Holland. The soprano in this recording is Julia Smith. Journey Journey Journey examined the effects of architecture, space and landscape on the experience of prayer and contemplation. Temple Benan is a now-ruined oratory on Inishmore, the largest of the Aran islands off the west coast of Ireland. The topography of the sites on which they are built, dictates that both Temple Benan and Liverpool Cathedral are orientated on a north/south axis, rather than the usual east/west, with their altars situated to the north, rather than the east, and their main entrances to the south, rather than the west. Temple Benan is believed to be the smallest church in the world while Liverpool Cathedral is one of the largest. A one-tenth-scale model of Temple Benan was sited in the centre of the cathedral's vast Well space. The high-gloss black tiles of Journey replicated the full-scale footprint and orientation of the oratory, and reflected the cathedral’s ornate architecture and stained glass windows, as well as the viewer, as they approached the work. Upon This Rock Upon This Rock Upon This Rock is a commissioned piece of writing by Chris Lethbridge, inspired by the collaborative works of Holland and Poulton.Chris is a visual artist with an interest in medieval church architecture. His writing is evocative and descriptive, with a strong narrative that has qualities of myth and fable. The title of the work simultaneously refers to the hill upon which the two cathedrals are situated and to the biblical reference, Matthew 16:18 “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.”Upon this Rock is read by Peter Halligan, a writer and poet who lives and works in Liverpool. Peter has a special interest in Japanese haiku. Residency Gallery Residency Gallery View the embedded image gallery online at: https://www.sitematerialobject.com/item/211#sigProIde0cdbf3688 Holland and Poulton were nominated for the Northern Art Prize 2009 for the six artworks made during their Cathedrals’ Residency. Earth and Æther Earth and Æther View the embedded image gallery online at: https://www.sitematerialobject.com/item/211#sigProId7144ddf091 Earth and Æther was commissioned by Liverpool Cathedral as part of its 2010 Liverpool Biennial programme and was the second site-specific installation created for its Chapter House by Holland and Poulton. A large block of gilded red sandstone was placed in the centre of the tiled floor. Suspended above it was a ‘mirrored house’, which was constantly transformed by the changing qualities of the polychromatic light of its environment. The work explored mankind’s attempts, through the sanctification of earthly objects, to approach a sense of the sublime.


		Two Seas : High Water Ring of Roses : Paper Falls on Stone Three Vessels : Love's Labours Untitled : Unknown Heartsounds Journey Upon This Rock Residency Gallery Earth and Æther