DRAPES – EMMA NEUBERG

Drapes: Memory of Colour at Craft Central UK

In 2019, Drapes was presented in Memory of Colour, my solo exhibition at Craft Central UK’s newly renovated Forge Gallery in East London, curated by Helen Kemp and directed by Marguerite Metz.

By this stage, the installation had already undergone several architectural transformations. At Craft Central, however, I felt that the work once again found a setting that allowed it to breathe. Rather than negotiating with corporate foyers, Drapes entered a space whose scale, atmosphere and industrial history became active participants in the exhibition.

The Forge occupied a beautifully restored Victorian shipbuilding yard where original brickwork, cast-iron columns, gantries and steel beams had been carefully preserved within the new gallery. A contemporary timber amphitheatre introduced another architectural rhythm, giving the space the atmosphere of a theatre suspended within an industrial monument…

Drapes: Painting, Power and the Architecture of Cloth

Drapes was my first large-scale installation, commissioned by curator Hannah Rose for the Mirror Gallery at the University of Plymouth in 2016 to launch its Textiles Season, which also featured British designers Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons of Timorous Beasties and Kit Kemp.

Rather than hanging paintings on walls, I wanted the paintings to become the walls.

Measuring 3.5 × 4 × 5 metres (11.5 × 13 × 16 feet), Drapes consisted of twenty suspended textile elements. Using satin polyester as a volumetric medium, the installation transformed the gallery into an immersive environment in which colour, pattern and material occupied architectural space. Each element employed repeating…

Drapes at 99 Bishopsgate: Reconfiguring a Site-Specific Installation

Following the presentation of Drapes at the Mirror Gallery in Plymouth (UK), the installation was invited to open the Fine Art season in 2017 at 99 Bishopsgate in the City of London. The invitation came after Saff Williams, then at Acrylicize, encountered the press surrounding the original exhibition. The commission for Brookfield Properties marked an important new stage in the life of the work, bringing Drapes from a university gallery into one of London’s most striking contemporary architectural settings.

From the street, 99 Bishopsgate possesses a monumental presence; inside, its pristine geometry and luminous interiors reminded me of the cinematic spaces of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was an exhilarating context in which to present the work. Rather than occupying a conventional gallery, Drapes entered a space where art, architecture and public life intersected.

This version of the installation comprised eighteen suspended elements distributed throughout the building. Unlike the original presentation at the Mirror Gallery…

Drapes at Aldgate Tower: Scale, Suspension and Architectural Space

Following its presentation at 99 Bishopsgate, Drapes was invited to Aldgate Tower in the City of London. Commissioned by Brookfield Properties and curated by Saff Williams at Acrylicize, the installation entered a dramatically different architectural setting.

Where 99 Bishopsgate offered a sense of intimacy through its sequence of spaces, windows and planted courtyard, Aldgate Tower presented an expansive glass-and-steel thoroughfare crowned by an exceptionally high atrium. The architecture transformed the work once again.