An installation responding to the work of Kurt Schwitters.
An installation responding to the work of Kurt Schwitters, in particular his Merz Barn Wall which he created in the Lake District and which was moved to the Hatton Gallery for restoration.
This exhibition is the culmination of Heather Ross's practice- based PhD research into the work of artist Kurt Schwitters, specifically focusing on his Merz Barn Wall. The objects and materials presented respond to the Hatton Gallery's archive, focusing on the movement of the 'Wall' from its original site in the Lake District in 1965, to its restoration and re-contextualisation in the Hatton Gallery. Kurt Schwitters' one-man art movement 'Merz' sought to re-think discarded or fragmentary everyday materials by re-using and re-purposing them for the creation of new artwork. The Losses refers to a term used in conservator's reports, to describe the ephemera (or fragments) which have been detached or become displaced from the original artwork. In this exhibition, Ross employs Schwitters' 'Merz' philosophy to consider how 'the losses' might be repurposed, reconstructed or reformed to offer new readings of his Merz Barn Wall. In addition, how the language of conservation, restoration and archival study - as constantly evolving activities - form part of the viewer's experience of engaging with the Wall as a fragment itself, which continues to be re-imagined.
