Giants allows us to look at the sources and use of money and power, the creative and destructive aspects of illusion and fantasy, what is necessary to love, what we can do without, and how we organize ourselves.
Giants is a large layout, somewhere between a child’s toy and an architectural model. It presents a world in which the collective power of ordinary people is able to overturn monsters. It looks at how power is distributed and examines the forces which knit the social fabric together, and those which unravel its threads. It also considers how things might be done in the future.
This layout is populated with figures, scaled according to their wealth. The rich and powerful are like giants striding about, picking up buildings and factories at will, and evidently in control of everything. But the small figures are fighting back, combining into a giant human form made of small people. This will be able to combat the giants and bring them down to size. This work will be exhibited as part of the Deep Adaptation exhibition.
Artist Chad McCail has been working together with people from across Newcastle and Gateshead between January and February to build this huge three-dimensional layout, which aims to communicate issues that are important to everyone.
Part 2 will return in the Autumn with open drop-in events between Monday 10 September – Friday 19 October, culminating in an exhibition of the final work.
Take a look at the Giants blog page for more information.
Biography
Chad McCail lives and works in South Lanarkshire. Previous works include a residency with Create London, where he worked with local people from Dagenham to write, design, build and stage a pantomime – Jack, Jill and the Beanstalk. And a 28 metre-long drawing Liars of the Earth which shows an imagined world in which the many have combined to overthrow the few.
This commission is part of Deep Adaptation. An ongoing programme of commissions, talks, events and workshops looking at how current social, civic and economic issues can be understood in relation to climate change.
