Kate Walton
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Comfort
03. 11. - 16. 11. 2020
This exhibition was created as part of the artists in residence program hosted by artist-run initiative Petrohradska kolektiv.Also, we will be releasing a zine with Kate Walton’s drawings made in collaboration with Martin Czeller and KudlaWerkstatt. Once the government restrictions are going to be lifted, the zines will be available for purchase at Lobster space.
On your way to work or from work, you can always check out the show window of Lobster space located at the Řezáčovo sq. (but of course just as long you follow the covid restrictive rules set by our government
Display window exhibition at Lobster Space
In our front room the curtains were an object of intense fascination. Heavy, thick velour and pink, carefully draping on the ground. Pleats, rolling hills up and down. They became a sort of time-keeper. When it started to get dark on Gleanings Avenue you’d hear “pull t’curtains on” - a symbol of protection as a child, from the dark. A loud beating noise as the tracks were pulled along the curtain pole - a train moving, closing the setting of the street.
Today’s curtains don’t have the drape of the ones back then. They were so heavy, ridiculously so - they felt immovable, unchangeable and that was part of the comfort of them. Maybe that’s the appeal of them, the materiality makes you feel at home. Or maybe that’s all plain old nostalgia.
Within this comfort, it’s the softness I miss the most. Thick brown pile carpet, frilly fabric lampshades and large patterned armchairs topped with armrests made of what felt like stone. In one moment they became a seat for legs, tired from making five ice cream cornets for the children. In another they were wheeled around, jumped on, engaged in a game of the floor is lava. They were put together and moved apart again, better angle of the TV, excellent position for supper. Within the small space of the front room, the walls felt soft.
On the cold marble of the mantelpiece we had an old swirly clock, a black pointed boot apparently sourced after a rainy trip to Stoke-On-Trent (whereabouts now unknown). Iridescent figurines of swans and cats, family photographs housed in round gold frames, wonky pots made in school, all a kind of altar. These objects became daily witnesses to the changes of the room as we grew older, visited less. Mantelpiece equivalents also housed memories, the windowsill, the top of the TV stand. Again with carefully positioned guardian figurines, watching over us.
More than anything I miss dusting. No one dusts anymore. Not only was the duster, with it’s ridiculous feathers, an extremely exciting object, it carried care to these objects, lightly polishing them until they were brought back into the present. Shiny, gleaming with a new found clarity, with their pride of place on the windowsill.
Kate Walton
Petrohradská kolektiv Residency Project is supported in 2020 by the Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, the State Fund of Culture of the Czech Republic and the City District of Prague 10.
Exhibition program Petrohradská kolektiv z.s. is supported in 2020 by the State Fund of Culture of the Czech Republic, the City of Prague, and the City District of Prague 10.
