The Necropolitan Line

THE NECROPOLITAN LINE

A solo exhibition commissioned for the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, an internationally recognised research centre for the study of sculpture, including galleries, a library and archive alongside a prestigious programme of historical and contemporary exhibitions.

The Necropolitan Line featured a reproduction of a platform that spanned three rooms and incorporated thermoplastic lines, tactile paving and steel benches all of which were accessible and utilised by the public. The galleries were dimly lit by a series of lightboxes containing found photographs of semaphore signals. These signals, alongside luminous yellow handrails, a map, an intermittent headlamp and continuous announcements on elevated tannoy speakers, guided visitors through the space. Referencing the film Brief Encounter, the audio through the tannoy was developed with the motif from Rachmaninov’s Concerto No.2, over which pre-recorded announcements gave the public fragmented information about departures, deaths and goodbyes. The final room incorporated the Institution’s goods lift: passengers, invited in by a blown whistle, travelled down in the lift to the tune of ‘Is That All There Is?’ and were promptly expelled on to the street at the end of their journey.

As part of the exhibition, a free newspaper The Line was produced and presented in a stack. The articles, written by Palmer, investigated stories about bodies, loss and displacement with reference to the historic Necropolitan Line that ran between London and Brookwood Cemetery (1854 to 1941) and Crossbones Graveyard, an ancient unconsecrated burial ground for the prostitutes next to London Bridge. This project articulates the rejection of unwanted bodies and elaborates Palmer’s enquiry into the use of writing as a form of sculpture by exploring how, contrary to the commonplace notion of sculpture as a mass of material, absence, and the dislocation of matter can be inherent to its logic.

Press coverage:
‘The Sound Of Absence: Katrina Palmer And The Dialogue Between Sculpture And Narration’, interview by Giulia Simi, Digicult Magazine, August, 2016
‘Marooned at a tangent to the everyday’: review by Bridget Penney, 3:am Magazine, February 13th, 2016
‘Katrina Palmer, The Necropolitan Line’, review by Daniel Potts, Aesthetica Magazine, February 2016
‘Katrina Palmer’s The Necropolitan Line’, review by Jack Welch, The Double Negative, January 2016
‘This week’s exhibitions’, Oliver Basciano, The Guardian, 5th December 2015

An accompanied live reading, The Uncoupling, took place at the HMI 10/2/2016. During 2016 a series of artist’s talks and workshops were given at the following institutions: Eastside Projects, Birmingham (10/2016); University of Reading (10/2016); Temple Bar Gallery and Studios Dublin, Ireland (9/2016) Goldsmiths College, University of London (6/2016) and on-site at the Henry Moore Institute (2/2016); Chelsea School of Art, London (5/2016); University of Arts, Helsinki (4/2016); Royal College of Art, London (4/2016); Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam (4/2016); Northumbria University (3/2016); Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design (3/2016).

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