Based on a poem from William Blake's ' Songs of Innocence and Experience ' , ' The Ecchoing Green ' is an installation at King Edward St Chapel in Macclesfield. The Chapel itself is an independent chapel and a really atmospheric building in its own right, dating from 1690 and with galleries to the upper level. Dark and moody , especially on a grey overcast day , the building lends itself to a claustrophobic installation - overhung inside with branches and the sound of crows...........
The first thirty seconds or so of any such installation are charged with meaning and emotion, as one is taken from one reality to another.........
........except that as I walked in and turned right into the body of the chapel my appreciation of the installation was fatally compromised by a figure to my right who lurched up out of the half-gloom , grabbed my arm and and with her mouth full mumbled " Shorry I wash eating a bananah for mgy lunch yore sposed to read this it will ecxplain it " , thrusting a piece of paper into my hand..............the crows and the figures seemed somewhat diminished after this encounter.
I like site specific installations , the theatricality , the opportunity to control an audiences response , but to my mind this can only be achieved by having full control over the environment and by definition peoples' perceptions. I am perfectly capable of forming my own responses , which may - or may not - be enhanced by an explanation of the artist's intent . In this instance , however , the experience was lost , for me at least.
