Colston Hall commissions
Scorched, Matthew Harris
New commissions by artists Michael Brennand-Wood and Matthew Harris were unveiled when the new extension for Bristol’s Colston Hall was recently opened
The £2.2 million extension programme was carried out by the London architect Levitt Bernstein and included a new foyer performance space and bar area. Brennand-Wood’s wall piece was made for the bar and covers an entire wall. Made up of a series of different-sized flat metal discs, it looks like a giant star chart with each disc linked by bold geometric lines that from a distance create a giant, lace-like pattern. On closer inspection you can see that each disc symbolises either a CD, album or single, each decorated with a series of music badges, and together making up a diagram symbolising the relationships between different musical forms. ‘I envisage the work as a musical constellation of musical genres, carefully mapped to indicate musical connections and hybridization,’ explains Brennand-Wood.
Matthew Harris’s work wrapped around the wooden walls of the foyer is at first site equally abstract. It’s not until you stand back – in contrast to Brennand-Wood’s more detailed piece that needs to be experienced close up – that you can see that the lines actually represent a musical score burnt into the wall. Harris says, ‘The idea is to create something which performers might respond to in some way with sound or movement.’
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