Front Kitchen Back to top
Installation photos by Gareth Gardner. Photo of Wind Dried Whippet: Langlands & Bell
Traces of Living 1986-2020
Beech, MDF, found objects, glass, AC lacquer
Installation: chairs: 92 x 45 x 45 cm (each); table: 90 x 137 x 74 cm
The artists
Originally made in 1986, this version of Traces of Living uses two chairs from the original work paired with a table of the same dimensions as Soane’s kitchen table and two newly made chairs. The tabletop’s vitrine is filled with objects that originated in the East End: a bird, a gravy boat, a plate with melted candles, a rat in a loaf of bread, and a yellow brick, which alludes to Soane’s humble origins as the son of a bricklayer. Two of the chairs contain models of the basement of the National Gallery and the basement of the Soane Museum.
Wind Dried Whippet 1982
Desiccated dog carcass
67 x 107 x 15 cm
The artists
Langlands & Bell have often integrated found objects into their practice as a way of reflecting trauma. This work was found in a market stall on Brick Lane and is a naturally dried and mummified whippet. In life, the whippet was probably an East End racing dog. It was common practice to mistreat the animals by locking them away once they were past their racing prime, and it is thought that this may have been the fate of the whippet on display.
Rear Kitchen Back to top
Photo by Gareth Gardner
The House of Osama bin Laden 2003
Interactive computer animation/data projection
The artists
This work is a digital model that reconstructs Osama bin Laden’s former house at Daruntah, Afghanistan. Langlands & Bell were commissioned to go to Afghanistan in 2002 in the aftermath of 9/11 to document the war. The House of Osama bin Laden was rendered using hundreds of photos and measurements the artists took when they visited the house which was occupied by the Hizb-i-Islami militia at the time, and uses the Quake games engine to explore it – visitors to the Museum may use the joystick to navigate their way through the digital model. This work is the central part of the eponymous trilogy of art works about the conflict shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2004.
Monk’s Parlour Back to top
Photo by Gareth Gardner
The Burnt Madonna 1985
Charred oak
125 x 40 x 35 cm
The artists
This work is a found object salvaged from an arson attack at a Roman Catholic church in Suffolk, St Pancras, Ipswich, on Christmas Day in 1985.
Crypt Back to top
Photo by Gareth Gardner
Burnt Interlocking Chairs 1997
Charred beech, glass
92 x 92 x 64 cm
The artists
This work consists of two discrete chairs, merged to form a single object, burnt like The Burnt Madonna.