Decadence and Drama

About

The exhibition comprises site specific installation, painting, sculpture and video which allude to the building's theatrical past and its current role as a domestic and contemporary art space.

Spectacles, stage sets and home interiors thread throughout the exhibition. Peles Empire (a collaborative project by Barbara Wolff and Katharina Stoever) hints at the irony of decadence through the duplication of architectural styles in the wallpapered reproduction of a room from the Romanian Peles; a historicism castle built in 1883. Cornelius Dupré's suspended classical paper columns also intervene and reinterpret the grand interior of the building, while creating a new tableau in which to negotiate. Ben Newton's disintegrating gold tiles and Elisa Pône's film, depicting a confined and spectacular firework display, explore the ephemerality of their allure. Nicolas Deshayes references the aesthetic of design ambition with work depicting the minimal world of stylised television chef paraphernalia and homeware. Escapism and wonder comes in the form of an overabundant, painterly and sculptural oasis by Nick Jeffery, while Conrad Ventur uses found footage to dramatically restage a performance by a famous songstress in the swimming pool room.

Mol's Place was built in 1851 and is now a Grade II listed building with a history rich in artistic relevance, partly because of its original function as a scenic painter's workshop for the Royal Opera House and theatres located around Covent Garden. In this exhibition, the building's creative legacy becomes a multi-layered backdrop for the artists to create new sets for potential drama. The exhibition is a mis-en-scène where the artists are able to further explore the facade of domestic and interior design. At first glance artworks seem to verge on becoming additional rooms and design features of the house, but beneath decadent surfaces conflict is at play where eclectic styles clash to reveal fragility and distortion.