END MATTER
From 26 April 2015
Since winning a commission from Artangel and BBC Radio 4’s open call for emerging British artists, Katrina Palmer has based herself on the Isle of Portland.
Palmer has created a series of narratives set on Portland for radio listeners, readers and walkers: The Quarryman’s Daughters, is a 30-minute broadcast on BBC Radio 4; The Loss Adjusters, a site-specific audio walk on Portland presented in association with b-side; and a newly published book, End Matter.
The Loss Adjusters begins in an empty office on the high street in Easton, Portland. Equipped with headsets, visitors head out past St George’s cemetery and towards Bowers quarry, listening to stories about the primal forces of the island’s geology, a young offender turned gravedigger, and the Horrocks sisters, eccentric daughters of a dead quarryman who live in two huts on the edge of the island.
The Quarryman’s Daughters on BBC Radio 4 starts in the style of an intimate reading enhanced by a special soundtrack. The narration is interwoven with the voices of the Horrocks sisters and field recordings from Portland – the swell of the tide, the banging and cutting of quarry work – conveying an unsettling atmosphere that builds to a surprising conclusion.
A special 15-minute feature has also been commissioned for Radio 4 to explore the historical riches of this unique place, examining the inspiration for Katrina’s artwork. The listener is transported to Portland to hear key chapters from the island’s past and to find out why it continues to capture the imagination of artists and writers.
End Matter, a specially designed book of investigations, documents and stories is published by Artangel and Book Works to coincide with the public launch of the site-specific audio walk The Loss Adjusters on Portland on Sunday 26 April.
The Quarryman’s Daughters will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 11.15pm on Tuesday, 5 May.
James Lingwood, Co-Director, Artangel says: “Artangel and BBC Radio 4 have challenged artists to explore the potential of place in bold and surprising ways, and Katrina Palmer has done precisely that. Portland is an extraordinary place, and Katrina Palmer has responded with an exceptional project.”
b-side is working with Artangel to produce the audio walk The Loss Adjusters, starting in Easton and meandering through quarries and a cemetery. It is the first b-side public project since their successful 2014 Festival on Portland, which included art installations at HMP The Verne, Portland Bill and St George’s Church.
Alan Rogers, Executive Director of b-side says "We're delighted and privileged to be working in association with Artangel, bringing yet more contemporary art experiences to the Isle of Portland. Artangel are a fantastic organisation that has produced some of the most acclaimed art of recent times. The art work and radio broadcast will also help focus national attention on this unique and amazing island”
For further press information and images, please contact:
b-side Producer, Sandy Kirkby producer@b-side.org.uk +44(0)7770 856 253 Artangel Head of Communications Anna Larkin at anna@artangel.org.uk +44(0)20 7713 1400 or BBC Radio 4 Publicist Conor Dwan at conor.dwan@bbc.co.uk + 44 (0)7714 956 797.
NOTES TO EDITORS
END MATTER is commissioned by Artangel and BBC Radio 4. www.artangel.org.uk/endmatter
PARENTAL GUIDANCE: some material contained in END MATTER is of a sexually explicit nature
The Quarryman’s Daughters
Broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 11.15pm on Tuesday, 5 May 2015
Produced for BBC Radio 4 by Somethin’ Else
End Matter
Published on 26 April 2015 by Artangel and Book Works
The Loss Adjusters
Open to the public 26 April – 28 June 2015
Presented on Portland by Artangel in association with b-side
Address: 52 Easton Street, Easton, Portland, Dorset, DT5 1BT
Open: 26 April - 28 June 2015
Opening Times: 26 April – 10 May 2015
Monday - Saturday 11.00 – 19.00
Sunday 11.00 – 17.00
16 May – 28 June weekends only Saturday 11.00 – 19.00 Sunday 11.00 – 17.00
Entry: FREE
Visitor Information:
Staff at 52 Easton Street will either assist visitors in downloading an audio file onto their mobile phones or other mobile devices, or provide an iPod and headset for which a deposit will need to be left with staff in the form of a bank card.
Disabled Access: Those with specific access requirements are encouraged to visit the Artangel website to read the full access statement or call the Artangel office for further information before their visit.
Katrina Palmer lives in London where she studied sculpture at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art. Through published stories, live-readings and installed recordings, she proposes extended forms of writing as sculpture. The Dark Object (Book Works; 2010) narrates a series of power relations in a fictional art school. Palmer’s work was included in Mirror City at the Hayward Gallery, London in 2014. In May 2015 her work will be included in the group show The Weight of Data at Tate Britain. In autumn 2015 she will have a one-person show at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds. Her short story Relief (A Remote Object of Thought) is in the catalogue for Modern British Sculpture (Royal Academy of Art, London; 2011) and The Fabricator’s Tale was published by Book Works in 2014.
Artangel presents exceptional projects by outstanding contemporary artists in unusual spaces. Over the past two decades, audiences have encountered Artangel projects in a wide range of different sites and situations across Britain from film and video to sculpture and sound installations. Artangel has generated some of the most talked-about art of recent times, including projects with Clio Barnard, Jeremy Deller, Roger Hiorns, Michael Landy, Steve McQueen, Rachel Whiteread, and most recently Ryoji Ikeda and PJ Harvey. www.artangel.org.uk
BBC Radio 4 is committed to providing comprehensive arts programming of the highest quality through regular strands such as Front Row, Open Book and Poetry Please, thought-provoking documentary series such as Playing the Skyline, Zeitgeisters with Will Gompertz and The Business of Film with Mark Kermode, and creative partnerships with organisations such as Artangel, the British Museum and the RIBA. www.bbc.co.uk/radio4
This announcement is part of the BBC’s ongoing commitment to Arts programming, ‘the greatest commitment to arts for a generation’, as announced by the Director General in 2014. The BBC aims to provide the broadest range and depth of music and arts programmes across television, radio and online including landmark seasons in 2015 planned on dance, film, theatre and poetry. The BBC creates non-commercial partnerships with the arts sector that go beyond broadcast, from sharing expertise to widening public engagement in UK arts. In February, GET CREATIVE – a year-long celebration of British arts, culture and creativity designed to encourage participation in the arts – was launched in partnership with cultural movement What Next? as well as a huge range of arts, cultural and voluntary organisations across the UK. The BBC aims to provide context through original, fresh discussion and perspectives and is the biggest investor and creator of original arts and music programming. www.bbc.co.uk/arts
b-side is an artist led arts organisation based in Dorset. b-side commissions artists to make new work in response to a diverse range of locations across the Isle of Portland and in Weymouth. It presents a biennial festival of site-responsive work, a symposium and a programme of satellite events. The next festival takes place in September 2016 www.b-side.org.uk