ReMark (Anecdoted Typography of Mark)
Moat Path Benches, Wells, Somerset. 1 - 30 September 2008
The work drew attention to the 43 weather-stained brass bench plaques on the Bishop’s Palace Moat Path, a popular promenade in the historic city of Wells. Over a four-day period, the plaques were removed, restored and placed on display in the Wells Museum (for one month). This process generated many informal conversations with passers-by about the individual plaques and, more broadly, the act of marking a life in brass. Forty-three new texts were written and installed, temporarily re-activating the voids left by the relocation of the plaques. With a conscious nod to Daniel Spoerri’s seminal work ‘Topographie Anécdotée du Hasard’, the work’s intention was not rigorous historical research but to simply frame the information that spontaneously emerged as a result of the intervention.
Over half of the plaques received some snippet of comment or observation including photographs, family trees, disagreements and evocative memories. An archive book of original materials including: rubbings, photographs, handwritten anecdotes, memories and snippets of information (both real and imaginary) is now on permanent loan to the Wells Museum Library.
Commissioned by Palace Intrusions - a year long public arts project produced by Artmusic.
