BETWEEN CHAOS AND LIGHT
2025
21 June - 21 December
National Trust
Fountains Hall, North Yorkshire
Text by Susan Owens
The history of Fountains Hall and the carvings in the Great Chamber both prompted Ed Kluz to ask: is there a creative force inherent in these spiritual and psychological tensions? What might arise from the hairline crack in time that appears when a new world parts from an old? Is enchantment still possible? His response to these questions is Between Chaos and Light, a work in which an ancient, pagan presence erupts into the here-and-now, taking control with the authority of a Prospero and the dazzling inventiveness of a Jacobean masquerader. It takes the form of a large classical mask, or mascaron – disquieting, yet benevolent. Through its open mouth stream words of wisdom and solace spoken in both male and female voices, and ripples of melody and song such as one might hear in a dream. The room fills with life and movement: swaying dancers, fire, wind, sky, waves, patterns of foam on the sea’s surface. These elemental images fill the Great Chamber, offering sights, sounds and sensations as old as time and as fresh as the dawn.
The ancient presence is a protective genius loci, a spiritual force more ancient than Christianity itself. Although it may have been conjured up by a violent break with tradition, the words it speaks, on the very spot where Stephen Proctor once dispensed summary justice, are of healing and resolution. They are necessary and of the moment: the earth is at a crisis point caused by modern-day Proctors exploiting it for fossil fuels. The Industrial Revolution was the first major change since the Reformation itself to separate a ‘before’ from an ‘after’. A further revolution that would bring a decisive move to renewable sources of energy is far from assured: what our new ‘after’ will look like is an uncertain prospect. ‘The night of time far surpasseth the day,’ wrote the 17th-century physician and writer Thomas Browne, ‘and who knows when was the Equinox?’ Ed Kluz’s subtle perception of history – of its layers and shadows, its fissures and magic – reaches to the heart of Fountain Hall’s mystery by connecting time past with time to come. His ancient genius loci enchants the fragile present and lays out courage and hope for the future.
