Time Horizons at Houghton Hall
As was mentioned, “Time Horizons” comprises 100 iron casts, each being a full-body cast weighing 640 kg that have been made from 23 different molds of Gormley’s own body which
have resulted in slight differences: some have broader chests while others may have hands placed in different positions. But each shares more than their physicality: each is situated on a horizontal plane throughout the formal grounds and wild landscape of Houghton. So, when viewing them, though they may be buried to the head or may rise on concrete plinths of up to four meters, they are in fact situated at the same level. It is only the undulating ground that presents the illusion of change and/or difference.
Gormley determined the placement of the pieces after looking at maps of the property from the 1600s, after which he surveyed the estate and used drones to create 3-dimensional maps sites which were then further refined with a precision instrument called a theodolite which measures angles both horizontally and vertically. So, though the casts are seemingly placed at random, they are not. They are all meticulously placed and positioned, with none directly facing the other.
Moreover, all are situated in relation to one single cast set inside the floor of the entrance to Houghton Hall itself. This single “man” cast sets the datum level or point of reference for all the other 99 casts situated outside – including the 20 that rise on plinths. In setting the primary placement of the cast inside Houghton Hall, Gormley had to remove large slab of marble tile that constituted the floor and to dig
down until sufficient depth was reached to absorb most of the cast’s lower torso. Once the installation is removed, the flooring will be returned to its original state.
Gormley’s Take
Gormley provided context for the work in an interview with Studio International. Gormley said, in that interview, he believed these pieces and this installation “are less connected with art history and more connected, really, to the relationship between evolution and the planet.” For example, he argues his casts are essentially “industrially made fossils of the human species,” the “materialization of a space the human body once occupied and by implication [the casts] invite the empathic imaginative inhabitation.” But because of the way they are placed, “what is made here is a repositioning of what is body to ground, figure to ground, that asks big questions: what is a human being, and what is a human being’s relationship to the planet.” Gormley argues that placing these bodies in relation to the landscape he purposefully offers an ironic contrast to “statue of Walpole, who in a kind of imperial Roman toga gestures to the ground: ‘here is my domain, here are my lands, this is my offering to you – but on the understanding we treat him as the ‘big boss.’”
Though the casts are seemingly placed at random, they are not. They are all meticulously placed and positioned, with none directly facing the other.
Opposite:
Cast That Serves as Reference Point for All Others
Photo
Courtesy of:
WW
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