The Secret Society - a Ballroom Banquet
by Kathy
Dalwood
Holburne Museum, Bath
Spring 2014
Watch
the film
Link to Holburne
Museum
About
the Ballroom Banquet
The ‘Secret Society Ballroom Banquet’ is a
contemporary intervention in an historic setting providing a kind of ‘live
event’ for the Plaster Busts collection.
Everything one would expect at a luxurious banquet is invitingly displayed
along the length of a massive dining table - cascading fruits, piles of
exotic shell-fish, magnificent multi-tiered cakes, and decanters of wine,
set off by voluptuous bouquets of flowers.
Although at a glance glamorous and luxurious, in fact all the banquet
objects are cheap, every-day items dipped in plaster.
Collected from charity shops, pound shops, flea markets and from the recycle
bin, plastic flowers, fruit and cutlery, beer cans, paper plates, charity
shop glasses, discarded packaging including take-away cups and burger
boxes, chocolate boxes and cigarette packets all gather a sense of sophistication
and opulence when uniformly coated in bright, white plaster. This ‘anti-luxe’
reflects one of the key concepts behind the plaster busts themselves,
being constructed from waste and found materials of low intrinsic value.
See the 'Secret Society Sculptural Banquet' at Pitzhanger
Manor
See the Plaster Bust Collection