Decommissioned: dance studio

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Ministry of Justice, 102 Petty France

This digital print is from a series of lightbox works that Catherine Yass made in response to the inauguration of the new JW3 building (Jewish Community Centre) in London. Formerly a car showroom and dance studio (hence the title), Yass photographed the site once it was empty and placed the resulting large-format transparencies in different parts of the derelict building. Yass retrieved these again some weeks later to find that they had all been transformed in various ways – some damaged or smashed, other scratched or altered where ribbons of colour had leaked across the original image. Yass then re-presented seventeen of the images in individual light boxes within the space and described them as, ‘small windows into a past and interior illuminated by imagination and memory.’ 

The presentation of the light boxes throughout the building encourages the viewer to feel they are embarking on a journey. In an interview, Yass has stated:

I used to live near the site, so I was familiar with the buildings that the JW3 replaces. They were nothing special but the dance teacher at my school worked from the dance studio in the buildings – as did Margot Fonteyn and Hot Pants at various times ... So they were a part of my and many other people’s experience of growing up in the area. In making the work, I wanted to bridge the gap between the old and new buildings as a way of giving the community continuity. A community shares a history so I wanted to make that history present in the new building. The sense of a legacy is particularly poignant in view of the fact that a large part of the Jewish community from this area escaped Germany during the war.

Catherine Yass was born in London and studied at the Slade School of Art (1982–1986) and at Goldsmiths’ College (1989–1990). Yass is an artist who uses film and photography to document time and space, using her work to explore the psychological and formal properties of architecture and built environments. In 2002 she was shortlisted for the Turner Prize and she has participated in the judging panels for both The Jerwood Photography Prize and The Citibank Photography Prize. Her work, which has been widely exhibited internationally, is represented in public museum collections including the Tate, London; the Biblioteca Albertina, Leipzig; and The Jewish Museum, New York. Yass lives and works in London.

Places

Subjects

dance, studio

Materials & Techniques

digital print

Artist

Catherine Yass (1963 - )

Title

Decommissioned: dance studio

Portfolio Title

Alan Cristea Gallery Twentieth Anniversary Portfolio

Edition

31/40

Date

2014

Medium

Archival digital print

Dimensions

height: 39.80 cm, width: 49.80 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Greenhouse Sports, May 2015

Inscription

verso, centre: Catherin Yass / 31/40 2014

Provenance

Alan Cristea Gallery; sold in aid of Greenhouse Sports and Cancer Research UK, 2015

GAC number

18650/21