Last week I visited Fort Amherst, one of the exhibition locations to choose from, with Jonathan, Martin, Lucie & Ian who were all taking photographs and collecting measurements for their different groups.
It is a very large space consisting of an entrance hall, two large corridors, four separate rooms and two staircases as well as an extra room across the road with adjoining toilet facilities.
These are the floor plans with the room measurements with a key including the locations of the plugs, light switches, fire extinguishers & fire alarms:
I also took a series of photographs as we moved through the location taking measurements mainly to highlight the size, as well as features such as hooks and shelves in the rooms, partition walls, windows, fireplaces and other pieces of furniture that could be used or would need to be moved for the exhibition.
I thought that there would be issues with lighting as some lighting particularly in the entrance hall does not work at all and there are not many plug sockets to use to add extra lighting to highlight our photographs; however there has been exhibitions in this location before therefore it must be possible.
Another problem with the location is obvious, that we mustn't damage any of the walls by putting in hooks etc. to hang our work, so we would have to use any existing hooks or have our work free standing such as on easels. However in most of the rooms there were large hooks and shelves that work could be hung from or sat on which could be interesting; there are also extra hooks in the ceiling and walls which could be used to hang work from using fishing wire.
The location with its age is obviosuly quite dirty which could be an issue with our work and visitors so we would have to consider possibly cleaning the location; and there is also a lot of prop furniture in the location such as beds which we would have to work with the owners to remove for our exhibition.
There is no heating throughout the rooms which is quite a big problem because due to its age and the wall materials the space does not retain any heat; Jonathan mentioned that in previous years the fire in the entrance hall has been lit to heat the space which could be a solution for this issue.
A positive of the location is that there are toilet facilities available near by and even though I feel we would have enough space in the main area it is good to have the extra room opposite in case someone wants a separate area for their series of photographs (again there is the possiblity of a fire to heat the space).
Having visited the area I think that even though there are some issues we would have to resolve, it is the perfect location for our work due to the main theme we have chosen. It also holds similar issues of abandonement & loss of purpose due to it being an unrequired gatehouse built during the war. Because of the enclosed rooms, thick walls and small windows feelings of melancholy and isolation are also prominent similar to the look of our work.
It is a very large space consisting of an entrance hall, two large corridors, four separate rooms and two staircases as well as an extra room across the road with adjoining toilet facilities.
These are the floor plans with the room measurements with a key including the locations of the plugs, light switches, fire extinguishers & fire alarms:
I also took a series of photographs as we moved through the location taking measurements mainly to highlight the size, as well as features such as hooks and shelves in the rooms, partition walls, windows, fireplaces and other pieces of furniture that could be used or would need to be moved for the exhibition.
 |
| Top Entrance Door |
Staircase leading to top entrance and upper floor
 |
| Upper Floor Corridor |
Hooks, Shelves & windows on upper floor
 |
| Upper floor Room x2 |
 |
| Staricase hall |
Staircase leading from upper to lower floor
 |
| Lower floor room x2 |
Lower Floor Corridor area
Corridor & Entrance Hall
 |
| Entrance Hall |
Entrance Hall doorway & Cabinet
Extra Room- different angles
I found this location incredible, it was a lot bigger than I expected with 5 separate rooms to exhibit our work in as well as corridors, staircases and a entrance hall to also present our work in if we wanted to. I thought that there would be issues with lighting as some lighting particularly in the entrance hall does not work at all and there are not many plug sockets to use to add extra lighting to highlight our photographs; however there has been exhibitions in this location before therefore it must be possible.
Another problem with the location is obvious, that we mustn't damage any of the walls by putting in hooks etc. to hang our work, so we would have to use any existing hooks or have our work free standing such as on easels. However in most of the rooms there were large hooks and shelves that work could be hung from or sat on which could be interesting; there are also extra hooks in the ceiling and walls which could be used to hang work from using fishing wire.
The location with its age is obviosuly quite dirty which could be an issue with our work and visitors so we would have to consider possibly cleaning the location; and there is also a lot of prop furniture in the location such as beds which we would have to work with the owners to remove for our exhibition.
There is no heating throughout the rooms which is quite a big problem because due to its age and the wall materials the space does not retain any heat; Jonathan mentioned that in previous years the fire in the entrance hall has been lit to heat the space which could be a solution for this issue.
A positive of the location is that there are toilet facilities available near by and even though I feel we would have enough space in the main area it is good to have the extra room opposite in case someone wants a separate area for their series of photographs (again there is the possiblity of a fire to heat the space).
Having visited the area I think that even though there are some issues we would have to resolve, it is the perfect location for our work due to the main theme we have chosen. It also holds similar issues of abandonement & loss of purpose due to it being an unrequired gatehouse built during the war. Because of the enclosed rooms, thick walls and small windows feelings of melancholy and isolation are also prominent similar to the look of our work.
So the main issues we would have to tackle with this location are how to hang our work, choosing the right locations for each of our series of photographs & finally figuring out what lighting we want to highlight our work and how to fit it using the limited plugs.
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