NEWS: Fiona Tan’s Depot @ BALTIC, Gateshead

Exploring contrasting ideologies including preservation and destruction, nature and man-made, Depot by visual artist Fiona Tan, is at BALTIC in Gateshead from Friday 10^th July until Sunday 1^st November.

Depot draws direct inspiration from Jonah The Giant Whale, which in its preserved state became an awe-inspiring spectacle, the effects of which Tan emulates by direct reference to its transportation, as well as the visual and psychological effects on its viewers. The industrial element, represented by the physical 73-foot lorry, gives way to the interior offering an insight into the natural world, where the moral and human orchestrated modes of display are questioned.

Tan alludes to a troubled relationship between mankind and nature in a wider context, which results in extreme oppositions. The interior of the piece similarly references these complexities as it channels the traditions of a cabinet of curiosities.

The scale of this re-imagining is representative of human nature, in our tendency to think bigger and beyond. In this case Fiona Tan begins to ask whether human thinking goes beyond what is right and into human error.

The exhibition will also include pieces such as Leviathan, 2015, a projection which mirrors the timing of the progress of the River Tyne, accompanied by music written by Calliope Tsoupaki; and Inventory, 2012, providing an insight into the collection of architect Sir John Soane. All of the considered connecting lines provide a broad scope and outlook, fusing Tan’s love of the natural world and the ocean, with the tradition of natural museums and collections, environments in which we find ourselves, and in the case of Depot, Newcastle’s own relatively unknown history as a whaling port.

Depot is at BALTIC, Gateshead from Friday 10^th July until Sunday 1^st November.