Groundwork | Chris Fite-Wassilak and Sophie Mallett

About

To whom it was given | a project hosted by the Bickford-Smith Institute Snooker Club, in the Bickford-Smith Institute, Porthleven

A prominent landmark at the mouth of Porthleven harbour, the Bickford-Smith Institute stands somewhere between the speculative promise of property development and idealised visions of the past.

In its over 130 years of existence, the Institute has been one of the most photographed buildings in the country, while its interior has only sporadically been open to the public. Originally founded in 1884 as a library ‘open to all’, the building has been home to successive generations of snooker club members since two snooker tables were installed in 1911. Studies are currently underway towards renovating the building, with its uses still to be decided.

Chris Fite-Wassilak and Sophie Mallett pitch the hyperbole of change against the rhetoric of heritage. They will use their project as a point where the two can coexist. Whilst ensuring that the space remains an active snooker hall, they will introduce various sculptural and narrative elements to augment and confuse the histories that cluster around the building.