Rock my world

The artist’s party for Scape was held in an owner-operated cave. Seriously. We got there by bus (again, seriously), stopping along the way to look at Zones Urbaines Sensibles’ minimal work of bleachers and the word Re-public in bedded flowers (a voice from the back of the bus suggested the addition of ‘Banana’ might have given some political bite) and Callum Morton‘s Monument #19: Sexy Beast. Anyone who has seen the film will remember the opening sequence of a large rock plummeting from a hill high above Ray Winston’s Spanish villa and narrowly missing his over-oiled body. Morton’s rock-filled shop on the flat plains of Canterbury certainly gave narrative, geology and retail a poke in the eye. It also came with a neighbour who was prepared to pop out to talk to anyone she saw looking in the shop window – on our evening visit she was in her dressing gown. If public art works need guardians, Morton’s has found a perfect community volunteer. Our party time under the low-slung rock was like stepping inside Morton's faux rock monument. Emerging from the cave mouth at the end of the evening, you half-expected to find yourself looking out through the shop window at dressing gown lady showing tourists Sexy Beast.

Images: Top, Monument #19: Sexy Beast by night. Bottom left, the alarming sign outside the party cave. Right, Callum Morton and fellow cavers