Artist Jimmy Cauty’s new installation, ESTATE, is to arrive in Scotland for a month-long residency from the end of May and throughout June. Two years in the making, the installation has been produced by L-13 Light Industrial Workshop, and hosted in Edinburgh by new collective, the Society of Spectacles.
ESTATE is described as ‘a dystopian model village experience’, comprising four abandoned concrete tower blocks at 1:24 scale (approx 2 metres high), housed in a 40-foot shipping container. Using over two tons of concrete and three miles of electric cable, the installation comprises four tower blocks, each performing a differing function, containing amusing scenes of mass social, economic and environmental devastation. A total of 1,360 rooms have been meticulously made from scratch, before being painstakingly vandalised, offering us a glimpse into an uncertain future that looks increasingly familiar.
A founding member of The JAMS, The Orb, The KLF and the K Foundation, Cauty is well-known as a musician, record producer, artist, cultural provocateur and model village builder. This new installation is third in a series comprising Riot in a Jam Jar (2011-2013) and The Aftermath Dislocation Principle (2014-2016), which visited Edinburgh’s Grassmarket in 2016.
Suitable for adults, and children over 5, the installation has already been seen in Hull and Stoke-on-Trent, now community arts space North Edinburgh Arts until 26th June, where it can be toured and viewed in compliance with Covid-19 hygiene and social distancing measures. The installation moves on to Platform in Glasgow’s Easterhouse Tue 29th Jun to Friday 30th July.
