The Shadows Calling imagines the amazingly evocative space in the basement of The Old Mercury Building (TOMB) as a fecund and unsettled environment, where strange forces work to reclaim the building.
This installation is inspired by fungi, which are neither plants nor animals but their own unique ‘kingdom’, and are both parasites and symbiotes, poisonous and delicious. These organisms are a vital but largely invisible instrument in the complex systems of the natural world.
There is a sense of decay and rebuilding, suggesting the idea of industrial biodegradability, where the technological world is broken down by natural forces to grow new forms.
The Shadows Calling is a sensual world: visual, aural, tactile, olfactory – although perhaps not gustatory. The exhibition includes sculpture, drawing, video, performance and narrative. Visitors have the chance to explore a dark, strange, beautiful world, where the boundaries between the real, the fantastic and the hypothetical are difficult to make out.
