Empire Catering:

Dimensions (cm):
Stool: H 163 W 38 D 66, with Lino: 1m2 approx

Description of work:
Wrapped sugar cubes are stacked on a red and white 1960s kitchen stool. Silver sugar tongs on invisible thread are turned by a (visible) mirror ball motor. Some of the cubes gradually get knocked onto the blue linoleum floor where they lie scattered until the invigilator reassembles them on the stool. The arrangement is left to chance.

The sugar cubes are genuine cubes collected in the 1960s and 1970s. Many of the companies they advertise do not exist anymore. This work represents a time of social change, when Lyons Corner shops and the first fast food restaurants such as the Golden Egg passed into history to make way for the next generation of fast food eateries and influences from America and the ‘Continent’. In spite of our Empire and history of ‘conquering of the seas’ we continue to have an ‘island Britain’ mentality.

There is also a DVD and photographic print of this work.