A LIVE WORK SPACE FOR MATTHEW BARNEY: PROCESS AS PERFORMANCE

by Finola Simpson

My project was to design a live work space for the artist Matthew Barney in Peckham, South London. The concept of the project was play with idea of the private process of Matthew Barneys bronze sculpture artworks as public performance at the site of Peckham square. Matthew Barney is an American multi-media artist. In a recent body of work named ‘River of Fundament” Barney made a series of brass sculptures to accompany a film. Matthew Barney is an American multi-media artist. The process to make these bronze sculptures is a single pour of hot liquid bronze into a vat of liquid bentonite clay. Barney describes the process of making these sculptures as theatrical and a performance in itself. The problem to be solved within this project was to design a space that offered simultaneously private dwelling space as well as public performance area within a busy public London square.