Practice as Research: site responsive text: A Fairy Tale Not Yet Written

A Fairy Tale Not Yet Written was a visual and sound installation installed in Picton Castle at Secret Light Garden in 2011. It played with the tropes of fairy tale and offered archetypal elements of a narrative without a word being spoken. The space - a forest glade - was lit with blue sodium light and a crystal chandelier beneath which was installed a large white birdcage and tiny red birds and a white French dressing table. Red silk was draped between the two around the large trunk of the cypress tree at the centre of the glade. The sound, designed by Newall and constructed by Karen Lauke consisted of British bird song emanating from speakers hidden in the birdcage; and a heavenly choir, emanating from speakers hidden in the dressing table. The effect was of an indoor-outdoor room. The absence of a protagonist was notable. The work explored what Judith Rugg terms 'psychic space' where meaning is negotiated between audience and space and that which is installed. The writing here was 'silent' as is evidenced in the title: the tale was waiting to be written by just such a negotiation between people, forest and artefacts.