THE CONCRETE JUNGLE REIMAGINED

Written by Clare Fisher

Bold Tendencies Sculpture Project 6, upper levels, Peckham Multi-storey car park

If the words ‘multi-storey car park’ make you wrinkle your nose at the thought of petrol and piss, then go down (or up, or sideways) to Peckham. Follow the red painted line past the butchers and hair extension shops, to the car park. Walk up the stairs – which do wreak, I have to admit – to… some pretty interesting sculptures.

Mary Redmond, Seven Split Overglide

Walking around Mary Redmond’s ‘Seven Split Overglide’ on a soggy Saturday afternoon, the phrase that kept running through my head was: urban jungle. I didn’t think of traffic jams and tower blocks, but of some place calm. Walking between the twisted sheets of corrugated metal and bamboo shoots, I felt as if I was exploring an ideal city, maybe one we could live in if we only stepped back from our everyday busy-ness, or one that is hidden within this busy-ness, hidden by the inessential, which Redmond has stripped away. I wanted to lie down between the coloured paving slabs and sleep.

Sarah Cain’s ‘Modern’ did less to transform the space as a whole; instead, it asked you to focus on particular details. The decorated mattress leant against a pillar made me think, oh, yes, people probably squat here, the concrete would protect you from the elements (it was an incredibly wet day!).

Sarah Cain, Modern

The corner that had been whitewashed and splashed with paint, water and, indeed, piss, brought out the sense that this was a place where strong urges were satisfied and then quickly abandoned. Yet with the paint pots in the corner, and the painted window-like blocks, there is a reminder that we are always on the lookout for other possibilities, and that sooner or later someone will come along and create things anew.

Laura Buckley, Byobu

My attention to the sculptures on the roof was, I admit, considerably weakened by the rain, which did an excellent job of falling around my umbrella. I stood under the dry(ish) tarpaulin of Frank’s Campari bar, and looked at the work of Laura Buckley, Martin Westwood, Carter Mull, and Peles Empire.

The rain was so heavy that the sculptures seemed to blur together, and with the greyish points of the shard, the gherkin, and the rest of the city, on the horizon. I wondered what it all meant. Many things, probably. By then I just wanted sit down with a hot drink, and enjoy the view.

From left: Peles Empire, Fountain 1, and Carter Mull, Lexicon

Bold Tendencies Sculpture Project 6 runs until 30th September. Open from 12 noon until 10pm Thursday to Sunday. For more details, see: http://boldtendencies.com/projects/SP6