Super Tudor

An installation/exhibition that transformed New York Art gallery, Deitch Projects, from a modernist flat-roof gallery space into a mock Tudor style building with fake pitched roof, by means of a decorative printed skin. The work is an ongoing, evolving project, which also exists in two subsequent versions, (Woodstock, USA, 2003; Kings Norton, UK, 2007). ‘Super Tudor’ was an installation that transformed the New York Art gallery, Deitch Projects, by means of a decorative printed skin. The modernist flat roof gallery space was changed, inside and out, into a mock Tudor-style building with fake pitched roof, an effect created by applying printed and painted black and white wooden panels to the existing architecture. ‘Super Tudor’ was conceived so that it would be both permanent and evolving. Woods devised an artwork that could be bought and re-sold; in this case the collector bought a certificate which gave him/her the right to “mock tudorise” a building of their own choice. The precise patterning of this tudoring is explained in a set of plans that accompany the art work, and its re-installation and exhibition in different venues. In its present manifestation in Woodstock it exists as a substantial five bedroom family house. This manifestation will exist for approximately another ten years when the building will be knocked down and the rights will be sold on to another collector. The absurdity in this process highlights the fact that any person can “mock tudorise” any building, but by intellectually buying into this process the collector becomes part of the work, thereby questioning notions of authorship and artistic originality in a very physical and theatrical way. ‘Super Tudor’ was installed and exhibited in 2002 (New York), re-installed and exhibited in 2003 (Woodstock, America), and re-installed and exhibited in 2007 (Kings Norton, UK – Architecture Week). ‘Super Tudor’ was discussed at ‘Rethinking Public Art’ at Tate Britain (December 2005) and has been widely reviewed, including Frieze, Art Review, and The New Yorker