Installation photos (above) by Gareth Gardner.
This display showcases new work by Nika Neelova. Neelova was artist in residence at Sir John Soane’s Museum in summer 2024. The work currently on display was made in response to the research she carried out during her residency.
The artist was particularly inspired by Soane’s famous visions of his Museum in ruins, his interest in magic, and the mysterious, romantic light effects he achieved with coloured glass. In response to the Museum, Neelova has created an installation which evokes an alchemist’s laboratory. Her use of coloured glass is inspired by Soane and also by the links between the development of optical theory and glassmaking. This is exemplified in Second Sight, a glass ‘eye’ featured in the centre of the installation which is inspired by eighteenth-century glass anatomical models of eyes in the Josephinum Museum in Vienna. Neelova collaborated with Studio Mark Barreda to create a number of hand-blown glass lacrymatories using historic glass recipes. Some of these replicate flaws in early glass recipes, meaning that the glass will eventually transform into water vapour. The wooden sculptures in the installation are made from reclaimed handrails, some of which were salvaged from St James’s Underground station. They are a reference to Soane’s sculptural stair cases. The ‘thorns’ which appear to grow from the grilles around the room are made from petrified sharks’ teeth set in clay. They evoke the idea of the Museum as a ruin, being reclaimed by nature.
Banner Image Credit: Nika Neelova
