Following a period of research in the archives of the Garden Museum, Andrea Gregson has created a site specific sculptural work: a 6 metre long wooden structure resembling Wardian cases or cabinets of curiosities on stilts, linked together like a giant insect.
The series of chambers house miniature worlds echoing the past and present lives of the now lost Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens (1661 - 1859), the remnant land known as Spring Gardens.
The title of the work, Last Night For Ever, is taken from the final event at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens on 25 June 1859.
The sculpture merges layers of imagery from several centuries: the horse-riders and animals from the City Farm move across the crystalised landscape, where the original orchestra stand and the fake Italian arches echoing Roman temples sit next to half built blocks of flats that have become historic ruins; the MI6 building looms in the distance like an overgrown mausoleum or garden folly.
Andrea Gregson's work explores the subliminal codes of behaviour hidden in objects and in the design of man-made spaces.
Familiar locations and objects merge together to create an unsettling parallel world and a sense of longing. In her sculptural installations, the artist invites the viewer to enter a world of make-believe, one that mimics man-made nature: a miniature of a miniature.
Garden Museum
Lambeth Palace Road, SE1 7LB
info • what's on @ • map
Sun-Fri 10.30am-5pm; Sat 10.30am-4pm; closed 1st Mon of month
£10 (concessions available)
For the latest local news and events direct to your inbox every Monday, you need our weekly email newsletter SE1 Direct.