Kettle’s Yard 1988
Installation/performance over three days

This collaboration with the artist/poet Carlyle Reedy came out of many conversations together, still ongoing, about what exactly our accumulation of materials means, why do we cling on to certain objects, why is there a sense of some things having talismanic qualities, why do we need material proof of our life on earth and why do we attach a significance to some items because experiences are connected to them. What happens on the late afternoon of the last day? What are the myriad realisations that transpire at that time? Is there a transcendence or a nihilism or a meeting of both, a letting go, a detaching? We brought together hundreds of objects from our homes, re-arranging them using both an off-handedness and a meditative ritualized concentration, verbalizing our inner thoughts as they arose.

Late afternoon of the last day (1988)
Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge

An installation/performance over three days

This collaboration with the artist and poet Carlyle Reedy came out of many conversations together, still ongoing, about what exactly our accumulation of materials mean, why do we cling on to certain objects, why is there a sense of some things having talismanic qualities, why do we need material proof of our life on earth and why do we attach a significance to some items because experiences are connected to them?

We asked what happens on the late afternoon of the last day. What are the myriad realisations that transpire at that time? Is there a transcendence or a nihilism or a meeting of both, a letting go, a detaching? 

We brought together hundreds of objects from our homes and re-arranged them using both an off-handedness and a meditative, ritualised concentration. We verbalised our inner thoughts as they arose.