Turner Prize-winner Mark Leckey recreates life-size motorway bridge in Tate Britain

Under the Bridge: Mark Leckey's O’ Magic Power Of Bleakness is at Tate Britain
Lucy Young
Robert Dex @RobDexES23 September 2019

Turner Prize-winner Mark Leckey has transformed Tate Britain with a replica of the motorway bridge that has previously inspired his work.

Staff worked for months to create the 38.5-metre-long copy, made of metal and covered with plasterboard, of the original which sits on the M53 near Ellesmere Port where the artist grew up.

Leckey’s obsession with the bridge started when he was a child after he became convinced he had seen a fairy under its concrete arches and that encounter has since featured in everything from videos and songs he has made in his decades-long career.

Clarrie Wallis, a senior curator in contemporary art at the gallery, said: “The pillars of the motorway bridge for Mark have a spirituality people normally see in something like standing stones.”

She said constructing the “hugely ambitious” replica, which is around 24-metres-wide, took “extensive research” with staff constantly referring to photographs of the original to make sure they got every detail right.

She said: “In terms of a build for a show this is as ambitious and complicated as it gets.”

The show, which opens tomorrow, includes an audio play about a group of teenagers who have a supernatural experience while hanging around under the bridge as well as Leckey’s trademark videos made up of found footage of the UK underground dance scene.It is his first major show at the Pimlico gallery since he won the 2008 Turner Prize for an exhibition which centred around a film of himself talking about his love of film.

O’Magic Power Of Bleakness is at Tate Britain from September 24 to January 5.

The best exhibitions to visit this autumn in London

1/21

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in