View in the Backgarden

Cally Trench - one of the artists of the show "Invasion of Privacy" - creates wonderful large paintings of suburban scenes. They remind you of Google's invasive satellite view. But Cally creates her images from her childhood memories. They reflect the way that children look down on the worlds that they create and play with obsessively - miniature gardens, model railways, imaginary islands, and complete universes made from bits and pieces. 

Most of the paintings are inhabited by a single figure - the artist as a child - often lying on the ground gazing up at the sky. The viewer - in the air? rising? falling? - gazes back.

Invasion of Privacy

What happened to your privacy? Google is looking in your backyard, you are photographed in average 20 times a day, Tesco knows more about your habits than your spouse, your employer is reading your mails and checking on your health data, and with some clicks everybody can find out how much you paid for your house. The owner of the art consultancy opens up her house and invites artists to use this private space for the show “Invasion of Privacy”.
 
The rooms are emptied of furniture and the artists are invited to transform the different areas (bath, living room, conservatory, staircase, study, toilet, patio) with installations or/and art works that play with the theme of the intrusion into our personal life.

 

Lock up in Wheatley

This is James Winnett's proposal for the Wheatley Show: a large temporary hexagonal pyramid sculpture. He was inspired by Wheatley's village lock-up, built in 1834.

This mini prison can be found near the edge of the old quarry site. It has a heavy padlocked door and the floor space is about six feet square with a headroom of about eight feet. In the 19th century it was used to lock up drunks overnight before sending them to the Oxford court. More recently it has been opened every May Day. For a small charge visitors can be locked up for five minutes or so, and given a certificate to prove it.