Fabricated / 2003
Excessive, obsessive, exotic and exuberant – nearly 200 years after the final phase of its transformation from farmhouse to fantasy land the Royal Pavilion still draws gasps. Its picturesque Indian outlines enclose an interior architecture of full-blooded chinoiserie where dragons frolic, birds and fish chase across crimson and gold walls and bamboo groves line corridors.
For Architecture Week 2003 artists Erika Tan and Anthony Lam will be using their personal experience to comment on the oriental excesses of the Pavilion’s interior. Through an invented inventory and a series of carefully placed ‘insertions’ they will be challenging the Far Eastern fantasy George IV created.
Corridor
1. 25kg white refined rice, £23, origin Thailand
7. Chinese take-away names, Brighton & Hove Yellow Pages
Kitchen
2. Chinese cooking condiments: garlic, ginger, chilli, bamboo basket, See Woo wholesalers, south London
3. Wok and lid. Artist's personal collection also available from any good kitchen shop
4. Floor anti-slip mats. Cardboard and oil stains taken from contemporary Chinese take-away, London 2003
5. Stir frying, assorted seafood Chow Mein sound recording Ding Ho take-away, London 2003
The Kings Apartment
13. Carrier bags. Origins: China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam
14. Newspaper: Wen Wei Po newspaper 18/6/03. Shoes. Artist's own
