All work copyright Sovay Berriman 2012
Study took place at Royal Cornwall Museum during August and September 2009 following a year of exploration of the collection and conversation with curators at the museum.
Installation views of Study including Object, 2009, copper, stainless steel, acrylic, wire and tape, 145x200x180cm.
Study selects pieces from across the collections of the Royal Cornwall Museum; Social History, Fine Art, World Cultures and Geology are each represented. The museum’s collection has been developed from gifted and sought pieces with an aim to promote ‘knowledge in natural history, ethnology and the fine and industrial arts, especially in relation to Cornwall’ (http://www.royalcornwallmuseum.org.uk/index.htm (31/05/09).
The museum is akin to an iceberg in that what is on display is just a small part of a much greater collection hidden away in stores; of course the quandary for any museum is what to display and when, and the pressure to preserve and conserve is ever present. This is the case in museums across the world and so shall it ever be.
The space that Study inhabits has none of the aforementioned restraints, or aims. Study is not required to taxonomise. Neither is Study required to conserve. Study is the product of one personality’s erratic collecting habits. This personality is driven to explore, to break down the universe and its properties, to seek and collect indiscriminately from all that exists.
In the space you will find mementos of journeys taken down rivers and across seas, into the depths of the Earth and beyond the limits of our atmosphere. There are relics of other times and other lives; there are gifts that acknowledge bonds strengthened through shared endeavour. Other pieces have been won through negotiation and perseverance, and some because the offer was right. All carry equal weight as parts of an infinite puzzle; every answer uncovered demanding another step of investigation, and so the meta-collection grows.
August 2009
