Getting There is concerned with the making of a journey on one spot. Combining sculptural, performative and philosophical aspects, the work will be constructed, exhibited and deconstructed entirely within a six to seven-week period. It is conceived as a large, rising, pathway that compels the curious visitor to follow it through the exhibition hall and up into the roof area with the promise of touching the ceiling. Visitors will be able to watch its construction for the first three weeks, use it for the next two and see it dismantled in the last week.

Simultaneously purposeful and pointless, Getting There mirrors a common human personal goal: ‘to get somewhere’. Despite the where being abstract, the benefits of achieving it unclear and ultimately the goal rendered futile by death, the endeavor of getting there is commonly understood as a worthy idea. Lathwood’s new work provides a platform for interrogating this idea informally with visitors to the gallery and through a programme of discussions and activities.

Getting There will respond to the architecture of the building: using the whole space in ways that shift visitors’ perspectives and perceptions of it and reinterpreting its specific material qualities of varnished wood and Bath stone by a rougher-edged intervention of wood and scaffold. The exact layout and aesthetic of the pathway will be determined as the work unfolds, allowing for the artist’s iterative process of working. However, it will incorporate at least one ‘congregation area’ that can temporarily welcome visitors to sit/look/contemplate and converse.

Getting There is both original and inquisitive in its approach to space and audience. Challenging in its scale and the timeframe of its production this dynamic work will invite audiences to physically participate in and understand more about key philosophical and creative concepts.