Artangel presents contemporary artworks in unusual venues, often places not otherwise open to the public which makes them worth checking out.
Set in the Original Cell at the Maughan Library in King’s College London, Enemies and Rascals by Terence Gower is an audio piece with the added interest of seeing some of the original research documents.
In this 250th anniversary of the adoption of the American Declaration of Independence, his subject is the largely forgotten episode of the invasion of Quebec during the American War of Independence.
As I arrived before the 45 minute recording was due to begin, I went to the Weston Room where documents used in the polyphonic recording were displayed.
This site has a fascinating history. A house originally built in 1232, the Domus Conversorum (House of Converts) was intended to provide refuge for Jews forced to convert to Christianity. That ended when Jews were expelled from England in 1290. The building became a depository for public records over time, becoming the UK’s Public Record Office in 1856.
The Original Cell has been conserved to show how documents were stored. Built of metal and slate, it was the first fire-proofed interior of its kind. Seating is provided for the audience to listen to the different voices from that time giving us a fuller, more rounded narrative, especially those of the indigenous peoples who only wanted to live on their own land in peace.
We all know how that ended.
