'perfect imperfect (blueprints)' is the third in a series of exhibitions by Matt Rogalsky and Chloe Steele based on the history and spectactular architectural interiors of Elveden Hall, a vast and empty house on the edge of Thetford Forest. The house was once home to Maharajah Duleep Singh, the last ruler of the Punjab, and more recently occupied by the US Air Force during the Second World War. Steele and Rogalsky's works explore the building as a relic of Empire, drawing on its walls and filling it with sound.

At Taxi Gallery, a 25 metre drawing by Steele became a video projection which scrolled by on the windows, creating the illusion of movement. Originally made for a room at Elveden, Steele's drawing interprets the house as a linear landscape.

Rogalsky's audio made use of the only known recording of Queen Victoria. Rogalsky writes: The original cylinder recording, made at Balmoral in 1888, was obtained from the National Sound Archive and is used with their permission. It is about 20 seconds long and I have convinced myself that I can understand about half of it. I hear: "Britain ... [unintelligible] ... what the answer can be ... [unintelligible] ... has never forgotten ..." I have edited these fragments into a looped statement: "Britain ... has never forgotten ... what the answer can be ... The answer can be ... Britain!"

> sound clip

This loop was heard via headphones inside the taxi, overlaid on two other layers of sound emanating from speakers. These are: 1) fragments of the Queen Victoria recording, each one situated in a different room in Elveden Hall; 2) a long-duration recording made of Elveden's empty Marble Hall in which can be heard the rumble of traffic on the nearby A11, and the occasional airplane passing by.

internet version> perfect imperfect (blueprints)

comments book extracts:

Best Taxi Ride for some time! mysterious, haunting, a really original experience.

Sounds of the knowledge, I loved them. The best cabbie I've ever met.

I think Queen Vic is saying something about "advancement"

more perfect than imperfect

a truly original experience on a wet october night

it's like a time machine

note:

'perfect imperfect ((blueprints)' coincided with the drawing in of the long winter nights, with Halloween and Bonfire Night - lots of people out and about on the street after dark. The projection of a video at night creating the illusion of the taxi travelling through the drawn landscape of a stately home was more immediately accessible than ‘Ride’ to the passer by – it wasn’t necessary to get into the Taxi to experience the work – it was possible to just see it from the safety of the pavement without having to enter the garden. My son’s bedroom overlooks the Taxi and the street and he regularly reported overhearing people talking about it as they walked by …. “that’s wicked … I like that” ….. people still talk about the projection and it’s often cited as being their favourite show to date.