Do You Care? We Do (2017)

Prem Sahib

wood, paint, 12 metal lockers from Chariots Spa, Shoreditch, stickers, cigarette lighters, cotton towel, coins and other materials

Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

Classification:

Sculpture

Materials:

Wood, Paint, Metal

Accession Number:

T15476

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, in association with Art Night 2018, with support from The Search Foundation, Southard Reid and the artist, 2019

Scheme:

Collaboration with Art Night (2016-2019)

Ownership history:

Purchased by the Contemporary Art Society, in association with Art Night 2018, with support from The Search Foundation, Southard Reid and the artist; presented to Tate, 2019

Relationship:

Southard Reid, London Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

In June 2018 the Contemporary Art Society and Art Night co-commissioned Prem Sahib to create a pavilion in Vauxhall Park for Art Night 2018. Sahib’s commission, 500 sq ft, was a large-scale sculpture based on the floorplan of a standard new-build one-bedroom apartment, referencing the changing character of the local area around the Park. Made from modular sheets typically used for changing room cubicles, the maze-like structure was inspired by the nearby Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens (1732– 1859), whose pavilions and walkways were transformed into notoriously transgressive spaces after dark. The pavilion also alluded to contemporary gay nightlife, particularly Vauxhall’s well-known club scene.

Subsequently, two works by the artist have been gifted to Tate’s collection through the Contemporary Art Society: Do You Care? We Do consists of 12 lockers from the former Chariots Spa in Shoreditch, another rapidly changing area of London. Chariots was a gay sauna that closed in 2016 to make way for a luxury hotel development. The sauna functioned as a meeting place for the local gay scene, not only for cruising but also as a place of seclusion and safety. . The acquisition of Sahib’s work is the first for a UK museum.

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