Datum reflects the schism between the architectural modernization and functions of the Swiss Church Covent Garden. The three-screen film and sound installation activates the spatial conventions of the building through theatrical language and layers of narrative. Datum takes a common feature of civic and corporate architecture, one of the church’s geometrical elements, the frosted circle found on partition glass. This minor component expands in the work from a negligible detail, becoming the leitmotif and a formal device, revealing a sense of repetition and rhythm that punctuates the life of the space.

 

Datum was commissioned by The Swiss Cultural Fund at the Swiss Church in Covent Garden, and was developed through conversations with the architects Christ & Gantenbein who won awards for their modernization of the church in London.