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Richard Woods

Richard Woods is strongly committed to his work occupying public spaces where its use can be truly democratic, and as such was intrigued by the way in which Rook Lane Chapel in Frome plays host to a range of community, cultural and social events, from enthusiast-organised film programmes to debates on architecture to music recitals and weddings.

For his commission for Intervention/Decoration, 2008, Woods inserted a kaleidoscopic floor, woodblock printed in nine mismatched colours, into this situation. The floor functioned as a two-way punctuation. It radically reframed the interior of the Chapel, creating an immersive visual field that heightened the light filled interior of the chapel and threw any activity happening on it into striking relief. In turn, however, the community activities themselves removed Woods’ installation from being an artwork that always functioned in isolation. They removed it regularly from being an object for contemplation and firmly relocated it in the functional realm as an object for use, a social stage that celebrates the creativity of active communities.