Parasol Public – Kate Gilmore: Walk the Line

Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art presents Walk the Line, a dynamic site-specific sculptural artwork by the American artist Kate Gilmore on Exchange Square, London. Inaugurating a new strand of events, entitled Parasol Public, this public art project promises to be one of the most thrilling summer events in London. The event will be broadcast live on Parasol unit’s website.

For this public art project Kate Gilmore proposes a vibrant site-specific art work in Exchange Square, City of London. During the live performance, teams of eight women in two shifts will walk continuously on top of a red structure for nine hours a day; from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. Members of the public will be able to walk both around the structure in order to experience the work visually and through the passageway beneath the platform to get a sensory experience of the women walking above. By creating such a visually striking and powerful work, Gilmore highlights and gives prominence to the daily life of professional women in the City of London.

The location chosen for the work is Exchange Square in the financial district of the City of London, where thousands of people pass by every day, either on their way to or from their place of work. The size of the structure is in keeping with the measurements of typical office cubicles and corridors in the neighbouring modern office blocks, where countless women work, perhaps without ever having noticed or reflected upon the effect their daily activities have on their body and stamina. The women who participate in Kate Gilmore’s project will resemble typical office workers and come from different backgrounds. With this art work Kate Gilmore comments on the meaning of labour and life in everyday conditions, and skilfully turns a mundane phenomenon into a dramatic visual spectacle. Concerned with the present, Walk the Line will reflect the daily rhythms of Exchange Square and the urban experience of London.