Floreligium
Recalibration
An exhibition of artworks by Marcus Vergette
An invitation to re-consider the value of the natural world.
Through mapping and measuring some of the interdependencies in the natural world, Devon-based artist Marcus Vergette invites audiences to tune in to different perspectives, scales and timelines and acknowledge how all organisms in an ecosystem depend upon each other.
His bell sculptures, printed works and hand drawn maps playfully remind us to pay attention to natural forces – the sea, weather, disease, migration – and to what happens when finely tuned relationships in nature are disrupted.
The exhibition included a new bell sculpture Stone Carillon created during lockdown, comprising playable marble bells hung on an ash wood frame hewn from ash trees suffering from ash dieback. It also featured a new interactive map inviting visitor contributions on future land use, and sapling native broad leaf trees by kind permission of Devon Wildlife Trust in a new site-specific installation.
Prints from the exhibition are available for sale via our online shop.
About Marcus Vergette
Musician and artist Marcus Vergette is perhaps best known for his Time and Tide series of hand cast bells designed as musical markers of the high tide and as a salutary early warning system marking the rising sea levels around the coastline of the United Kingdom. Rung by the movement of the sea, each bell in the series alerts local communities to the water level, signifying the possibilities for navigation at high tide and the increasing frequency of high sea levels.
Watch two promo films for the Recalibration exhibition:
Recalibration was part of a pilot programme of arts and heritage interventions curated by Honeyscribe for Exeter Custom House.
Generously funded by Arts Council England through a National Lottery Project Grant and Exeter Canal and Quay Trust
Back to Residencies.
Sunday 5, 12, 19, 26 September (10-11am): Look, Draw, Notice
Sunday morning creative workshops for families and child-friendly tours of the exhibition.
Special Events
Saturday 11 September (10am-5pm): Under the microscope
Micrographia Robert Hooke's celebrated 17th century book on microscopy was on temporary display, by kind permission of the Dean and Chapter, Exeter Cathedral. Dr Felicity Henderson and ecologist Rob Wolton joined Marcus Vergette to discuss the importance of looking at different scales. Master printmaker Simon Marsh demonstrated printing.
Part of Heritage Open Days
Saturday 25 September (10am-5pm): Moths to a Flame
Art & Energy were in residence with a temporary installation and creative activity for visitors of all ages as part of their Moths to a Flame project.
Lates:
Wednesday 15 September: Late opening until 10pm
The exhibition stayed open into the evening to coincide with the Quay Words event in the Transit Shed in which Marcus Vergette joined poet and musician Anthony Joseph. The Stone Carillon marble bell sculpture was played at intervals throughout the evening.
Friday 24 September: Late opening until 10pm
DJ Dr John animated the building with music from around the world. The Art & Energy Collective were in residence with a temporary installation and creative activity as part of their Moths to a Flame project.
Watch a short film about some of the work in the exhibition:
