Following on from ‘Fold Up the Sky’ in Rome Alan Bond, May Cornet, and
Dawn Shorten have been chosen as lead artists in the ‘Artvaults’
project that takes place in Southampton this summer. Below the post war
redevelopment that characterises Southampton’s city centre lays a
labyrinth of over 100 underground vaults dating back to the twelfth
century. For the second year seven of these spaces are being opened
every weekend as contemporary art spaces. Last year the project,
organised by ‘a’ space, attracted 15,000 visitors.
In the Castle vault Dawn Shorten is showing ‘Fly me to The Moon’, a
spectacular reconstruction of a rocket launch. Alan Bond has
constructed planetarium consisting of a geodesic dome that sits on a
circle of doors scavenged from skips. Light penetrates through hundreds
of holes drilled in the dome. May Cornet shows in 94. High street. An
installation reminiscent of a laboratory consists of illuminated seed
boxes suggesting a process of cloning. However Cornet sees each of the
seedlings having the potential to grow into something unique. Delicate,
clinical and beguiling, the work suggests a scientific intervention
into the natural processes of creation and germination.
The exhibition continues until October 9th. and the vaults are open
from 12-4 every Saturday and Sunday. For directions contact ‘a’ space
tel; 02380 338778. Maps to guide you around can be obtained from
Southampton Tourist Information sites, the vaults themselves and from 'a' space.
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From the earliest kinds of hunting shelter, through ad hoc artisanal building, supporting structures for nature and the conflux of nature and architecture interpreted through computer imagery, four artists join together to interpret ideas about the evolution of architecture and shelter. 
