Currently on at the Duveen Gallery at Tate Britain, Asset Strippers by Mike Nelson is a poignant elegy to Britain’s manufacturing history, so much of which has now disappeared.
Machines and equipment, much of which is from the textile industry and with remnants of their function, are arranged as sculpture throughout the space
Fibre fluff is still there,
as are cobwebs.
In another section more obvious commentary: a raft built of sleeping mats and wood with sleeping bags topped by an engine. Factory workers originally migrated from rural areas to the new towns.
The history of manufacturing has always been supported by “migrants” of one form or another.
