Cutting through the walls

On 2nd and 3rd October 2013 the installation entitled "Stitched Offices" was extracted from its original home in Electric House, Willesden Green. A dedicated team of 7 worked relentlessly and managed to rescue about two thirds of the project. Thanks to incredible team working, they completed the task within a 48 hour deadline. Heavy duty cutting equipment was used to carefully dissect out 6 separate sections of full thickness partition wall pertaining to the work. Some 5kms of threaded connections were detached and rewound and a further 8km of swathes of threads were lifted in situe and labelled to facilitate later reconnection. Unfortunately the inherent risks of this relocation procedure resulted in significant losses. The light rays previously flooding in through the Manager's Office window dis-appeared when the tethering staples were removed. Communications between the Manager and the Secretaries Offices had to be cut resulting in immediate decontextualisation of all remaining communications to the Chief Executive and rendering them undecipherable and meaningless; the sensitive display of data embedded in the back wall of the CEO'S office was consequently marooned. The complex double involuted structure previously suspended between the two windows above Chief Executive's head collapsed and imploded.Remarkably, the large and cumbersome communication and data processing unit emanating from the Administrators area outside the Secretaries Office and spanning onto the Chief Executive's Office back wall ( known as "The Administrative Twist") despite its awkward nature was safely extracted intact. It was assumed that this would be relatively easy to reconnect (albeit in a different format) elsewhere. The huge network connected to the Manager's Office back wall represented a particular challenge; its shear size necessitated removal of part of the ceiling in the main stair well of the building in order to get it out of the premises in one piece. The 6 partition sections were finally removed for safe storage and have subsequently undergone extensive conservation work in a safe house in Camden. The disembodied installation now awaits another transplant and re-location to a new space where in good time, it is expected that communication will reform anew. The demolition of the original building known as Electric House eventually took place in March 2014.
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