Time Horizon

Whilst it was cold and raining this morning, the forecast for Houghton looked dry, so I decided to buy an online ticket and go to see Time Horizon, the Antony Gormley exhibition before the school holidays and masses of tourists arrive. 'This spectacular large-scale installation features 100 life-sized sculptures. Placed across 300 acres of the park and gardens, they are installed at the same height to create a single horizontal plane. The 'datum' work in the Arcade (the Hall's lower floor) sets the height for all the sculptures.' I really enjoyed wandering around the grounds and garden, seeing the statues (all identical life sized) each in a different context to their surroundings, some of which were on large plinths as in my main photo, and some were partly buried - some only having the head visible (see collage in Extras). They created a weird atmosphere as they are 'looking' in all directions and are all around you, part futuristic 'big brother' watching you and part spooky. There was also a ceramic and glass works exhibition, but that wasn't really my thing. I also went round the house and the beautiful walled gardens, although the wonderful rose garden was looking a bit battered by the wind and rain, and my favourite art installation 'Waterflame' was not fully functional and was awaiting a replacement part - so you got the water fountain without the shadowing flame. The exhibition is definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.