Pyramid Piece: Andy Holden’s Giant Knitted Rock

Andy Holden, “Pyramid Piece”, 2008. Courtesy the artist; Works/Projects and Hidde van Seggelen. ©Andy Holden.

LONDON.- From January to April 2010, artist Andy Holden will be displaying a giant knitted rock as part of Tate Britain‘s Art Now programme of contemporary displays. Never before shown in the UK, Pyramid Piece 2009 is a vastly enlarged replica of a small Egyptian stone fragment, created from knitted yarn and foam over a steel support. It will be on display alongside a companion film work, Return of the Pyramid Piece 2008, and a collection of tourist souvenirs, In Place of an Ending (Pyramid Souvenirs, Second Visit) 2008.

Holden’s practice is driven by an investigation into the relationship between stories and objects. While on a trip to Egypt as a young boy, he took home a small lump of rock from the pyramid of Cheops in Giza. Over a period of 13 years the object came to embody the artist’s sense of guilt, until he decided to travel back to Egypt and return it to the exact spot from which it was taken. A shaky amateur video, filmed by a man Holden met in a café and enlisted to help him, documented this mission and became the film Return of the Pyramid Piece 2008. The transformation of this rock from building material to historical relic to stolen souvenir is contrasted with a collection of more conventional pyramid merchandise, entitled In Place of an Ending (Pyramid Souvenirs, Second Visit) 2008, which use similarly small, solid objects to suggest a variety of multi-layered stories and histories.

After returning from his pilgrimage to Egypt, Holden set about creating a giant knitted replica of his stolen fragment.

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via artdaily