BOTTLEMAP

In room 17 on the first floor is a cabinet with a glass bottle from Russia depicting The Passion and Resurrection of Christ. It is dated 1867 and is similar to the familiar 'ship in a bottle' puzzle. The bottle is a piece of transparent architecture crowned with a wooden stopper and a tiny cross; it is a contained and miniature world, viewed from outside and from any angle. The world inside the bottle is a bit of a mess visually, but it intrigues because we are not sure how it was made, and to 21st century eyes it can even suggest 'bottled religion'.By contrast: BOTTLEMAP is an opaque bottle-shaped object, roughly life-size and made from wood. It is hollow and constructed from small pieces of wood glued and pegged together. The 'bottle' was changed constantly during its construction, and the object that grew from this process of trial and error emphasises its surface and exteriority. On the wall behind the BOTTLE is the MAP of the surface showing every piece of wood and peg used in its construction. By concentrating on the map of the bottle's surface the problem of how it was made - or indeed how it could be made - is rendered transparent. But the interior remains a mystery as do its contents.

CASTCACTI:

The museum is full of objects inspired by plant forms - there are chandeliers, tall standing lamps, jugs, bowls, cups, carpets, chairs, and many others. They are decorated with flowers, leaves, tendrils, fruit, even seaweed - but there is not, as far as I can tell, a single cactus. That is, until now. CASTCACTI is a sculpture made from corrugated paper covered in sand. On the wall behind the sculpture is a panel made from paper, MDF and sand, that looks as though it could have been a mould for the sculpture. It has been suggested to me that the sculpture would look better with a light on the top - perhaps they are right. In which case CASTCACTI might have found its true home at last.