The Laboratory – Lichfield Cathedral – 2021
‘The Laboratory’ is an art installation designed to invoke the sense of a space for exploration, examination and experimentation. Rather than a direct depiction of a scientific laboratory, it has been created specifically to be viewed inside a sacred space such as within a Cathedral to allow contemplation on the relationship between science and faith.
“Creativity in the arts and the sciences comes from many places. But it is often in the studio for the artist, or the laboratory for the scientist, that those ideas come to life. We draw inspiration from our experiences, our environment and the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world and use that inspiration to direct our approaches towards depicting or dissecting, experimenting, and observing the existence of everything that surrounds us. The installation is more than creating a space that reminds us of a laboratory. It is an artwork in itself that creates intrigue, bringing to together diverse elements and presenting them in a way that will make us ask questions. Having the installation in the Cathedral, brings in further depths and levels to the installation, allowing people to consider the links between science, creativity and spirituality.” Peter Walker Sculptor
‘If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?’
Albert Einstein
This art installation entitled ‘The Laboratory’ depicts the working space of a scientists laboratory.
Science and faith is here combined as the natural world and creation are being explored.
Within it you will see Einstein’s desk, full of working papers, letters and an open sketch book ready for ideas to be written upon.
In the centre is a single apple – Is it the apple that Eve took from the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden? Is it Sir Isaac Newtons able that he saw fall from a tree to inspire his law of gravity?
The items within the laboratory all depict different sciences, mathematics, physics, psychology, chemistry, botany, anatomy.
You will see the molecular structures for Carbon dioxide, Ice and Salt; A microscope investigating species of plants; experimentation with chemicals in conical flasks; early maps theorising the planet earth; on the screens you will see Global warming and extinction explored and human anatomy.
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