Tell Tale Heart: Camley Street Natural Park, London

“Tell Tale Heart” by Nick Hornby

3 July - 14 September 2008 Camley Street Natural Park - London

Camley Street Projects launches its first ever exhibition by commissioning artist Nick Hornby to produce a piece of work for Camley Street Natural Park.

The new faster Eurostar connection from St. Pancras International means that Kings Cross is now 3 hours and 1 minute away from Disneyland Resort Paris. In response to that one minute, and the redevelopment of the area, he has built a giant model Disney Castle in his studio in White City, which will then be transported by canal to Camley Street where it will float in the middle of the Park’s large pond.

Disneyland is rife with contradictions between the imaginary and the real: the dreamlike buildings have cracks on their physical surface, and the poorly-fitting costume on Mickey Mouse reminds us there’s an actor inside. It is both the materialization of a child’s dream, and the international brand logo of a billion dollar business. Historically, art has grappled with these issues, placing faith in abstraction or romanticising materiality as evidence of authenticity.

A similar contradiction exists in the flawed logic of Camley Street Natural Park: the park was constructed in the 1980s, but only a thin veneer of soil lies on top of an industrial site. The ponds and wetlands were cultivated by re-directing the flow of Regents Canal, which is ironic considering this same canal was instrumental 100 years earlier in the industrialization of Victorian Britain, in creating its network of railways and the urban landscape that surrounds this park. Now, the area surrounding Kings Cross is part of a multi-million dollar development. No longer a waste-land, not yet completely regenerated, the Camley Street site is somewhere between the two. Perhaps it is in this in-between, almost fictional, zone - where nature and culture open up and implode - that this project can tease out histories and fictions. Inside a model park in the heart of Kings Cross, the castle will echo the neo-gothic architecture of St Pancras and simultaneously provide a perch for ducks and pigeons.

Leading the way for Camley Street Projects is curator and London based artist Sinta Tantra who has herself won numerous awards for her own works:

“Camley Street Projects supports emerging artists with a shared passion in developing public art, communicating with diverse audiences and engaging with the site’s unique location. Temporary interventions play an important role in how we look at public art, providing a continuous platform for thought provoking discussion and innovation.”

The exhibition opens in July as part of London Festival of Architecture’s and ends in September’s during the Angel Canal Festival.

Notes to Editors

Camley Street Projects For more information please visit www.camleystreetprojects.org
Public Opening Time 3 July – 14 September 2008, 10am – 5pm, Camley Street Natural Park, 12 Camley Street, London NW1 0PW.
Getting there
By Underground: Short walk from Kings Cross Tube By Train: St. Pancras Overground and St. Pancras International. By Bus: 10 17, 30, 45, 46, 59, 63,73, 91, 205, 214, 259, 390, 479. By Car Please note that there is No Parking Facility.

Disabled Wheelchair Access is available inside Camley Street Natural Park.
Educational workshops, talks and public events will run throughout the exhibition and will be aimed at exploring the relationships between art, ecology and the built environment. All details and dates TBC. For more information please e mail workshops@camleystreetprojects.org
Sinta Tantra is an artist and curator with a strong interest in Public Art. Recent public commissions have been for Canterbury Christchurch University, Camden Council, CreateKX, Transport for London and London Fashion Week. She has won numerous awards including the prestigious Deutsche Bank Pyramid Award in 2006, the Henry Moore Postgraduate Award 2006, the Gordon Luton Award 2006 and Westminster City Council’s Civic Award in 2007. Featured by the Evening Standard Magazine’s Bright Young Things in 2006, Sinta was listed as one of the top fifty creative talents under thirty working in London. For more information please visitwww.sintatantra.co.uk
Nick Hornby is a newly emerging sculptor. A graduate from Chelsea College of Art, his MA show received much attention with an article in January's edition of Miser & Now and has been selected by University of the Art’s "next best", in addition to winning the prestigious Clifford Chance sculpture prize. His work has been screened at Tate Britain, the Hayward Gallery and the ICA. In 2006 he was awarded the BlindArt prize for SoundTrack, a musical sculpture, which was then shown at the Hayward Gallery for a live event. Press included an interview on BBC Radio 4 and reviews in The Times, The Guardian and The Independent. For more information please visit www.nickhornby.org.uk
Camley Street Natural Park is managed by the London Wildlife Trust and is the only charity dedicated solely to protecting the capital's wildlife and wild spaces. The Trust engages with London's diverse communities through a variety of activities and educational projects. For more information please visit www.wildlondon.org.uk
The London Festival of Architecture this Summer will be the biggest event of its kind in the world. It will involve all the major players in London’s environment including the Mayor, Design for London, local authorities, officers and members, and major developers, not to mention some of the world’s leading architects. For more information please visit www.lfa2008.org
For images and further information please contact Sinta Tantra: E: press@camleystreetprojects.org T: 07960 944 199