Garden of Reason

Harold Offeh’s work explored the notion of garden as playground for fantastical masques and entertainments. Arcadia Redesigned referenced 17th-century spectacles staged by Inigo Jones and others to provide diversions for the rich and influential to display their wealth and power.

In this work Harold Offeh, supported by a cast of players, presented audiences with an imagined Arcadia through four seasonal spectacles in different locations around and the garden, and a fictional installation of the ‘Ham Hermit and grotto’ in the kitchen garden.

Did anyone manage to catch Harold Offeh’s Great Father Thames Spectacle last weekend? If so, which bridge were you?

gardenofreason:

Harold Offeh’s next seasonal spectacle, part of Arcadia Redesigned, will take place on 18 August 2012, at 3pm.

Great Father Thames Spectacle: The Bridges of London County 

Come and celebrate the River Thames, its bridges and its proximity to Ham House and Gardens. Visitors are invited to participate in a procession around the gardens, with costumes and music. This event is part of artist Harold Offeh’s series of seasonal spectacles commissioned as part of Garden of Reason.

Participants will have the opportunity to wear hats representing the 33 bridges spanning the Thames in London from Hampton Court Bridge to Tower Bridge. The event will conclude with a celebratory mapping of the Thames and its bridges in the plats area of Ham House’s garden.

This performance will include an extract from Henry Purcell’s ‘The Bashfull Thames’, as well as music, including ‘Old Father Thames’ as performed by Gracie Shields, and a sing-along to 17th-century ditty ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’.

Come along to Ham House and Garden on 18 August to experience Garden of Reason and this free performance.

This event is free and open to all visitors.

Don’t miss the Great Father Thames spectacle, performed at Ham House and Garden this Saturday.

Harold Offeh’s next seasonal spectacle, part of Arcadia Redesigned, will take place on 18 August 2012, at 3pm.

Great Father Thames Spectacle: The Bridges of London County 

Come and celebrate the River Thames, its bridges and its proximity to Ham House and Gardens. Visitors are invited to participate in a procession around the gardens, with costumes and music. This event is part of artist Harold Offeh’s series of seasonal spectacles commissioned as part of Garden of Reason.

Participants will have the opportunity to wear hats representing the 33 bridges spanning the Thames in London from Hampton Court Bridge to Tower Bridge. The event will conclude with a celebratory mapping of the Thames and its bridges in the plats area of Ham House’s garden.

This performance will include an extract from Henry Purcell’s ‘The Bashfull Thames’, as well as music, including ‘Old Father Thames’ as performed by Gracie Shields, and a sing-along to 17th-century ditty ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’.

Come along to Ham House and Garden on 18 August to experience Garden of Reason and this free performance.

This event is free and open to all visitors.

Our next artist’s talk is this Saturday 21 July and will be given by the wonderful Harold Offeh, the man behind Arcadia Redsigned and the popular Ham Hermit and Grotto installation.

Come along to Ham House and Garden this weekend to see the hermit in residence, and join Harold at the hermit’s grotto for a talk about his work at 2.30pm.

In the event of wet weather, the talk will be held in the Garden of Reason resource room.

We’re all very excited about Harold Offeh’s next performance for his Garden of Reason work, Arcadia Redesigned. He’s just sent through some more information about what’s going to be happening here at Ham on 23 June at 2.30 and 3.30pm:

Summer Spectacle - Summer Fever

Ham House Gardens will be brought to life in seasonal spectacle to celebrate midsummer. Performers will activate the plats area of the garden dressed as topiary and seasonal flowering plants such as the Yarrow Moonshine and St John Wort. The performance will celebrate the healing properties of the plants and draw inspiration from the now obscure celebrations of St John’s Eve traditionally observed on the 23rd June. Using the feel good soundtrack of Donna Summer’s Summer Fever and Purcell’s Fairy Queen the Spectacle will feature the images of Ham House’s Elizabeth Dysart as the fairy queen and the Harold Offeh as the resident Ham Hermit (pictured).

Harold is also looking for anyone who is interested in joining his team of performers, and will be holding a workshop for anyone who is interested from 12-2pm on the day.

If you are interested in taking part please email or call Harold Offeh on hoffeh@hotmail.com / 07810 221 735 and cc Tessa@fitzjohn1.co.uk into the email. Tessa Fitzjohn is the curator of Garden of Reason.

Find out more about our live art and performance programme.

Visitors this weekend might also have caught a glimpse of the Ham Hermit!

Harold Offeh was in residence as the hermit on Sunday, dispensing wisdom and knowledge from his grotto as part of his new work Arcadia Redesigned. The installation proved very popular, with all our visitors keen to meet the hermit and some of our younger visitors even offering to build him a fire for his stay in the grotto.

Keep an eye out for Harold if you visit Ham House and Garden in the near future, particularly during one of his spectacle performances.

See more about Harold Offeh and his other work on Axisweb

Looking forward to the Jubilee?

See Harold Offeh in another guise at The Alternative Village Fete at The Diamond Jubilee Festival, Battersea Park, London, 3rd June, 12-7pm

Harold will be performing at the festival with artist Barby Asante.

“Join artists Barby and Harold for the ‘Bling Jubilee Court: Queen’s of the COMMON-wealth’ offering Royal makeovers transforming you into all manner of African Queens, Indian Princesses, Disco Queens, drama Queens and more!”

Tickets here

We can now confirm that the Ham Hermit will be in residence on the following dates:

13 May

9, 22, 23 June

8, 21 July

17, 18, 30 August

13, 21, 22, 23 September

Why not come along to Ham House and see if you can find him in his grotto?

Ham Hermit and grotto is a contemporary art installation, part of Arcadia Redesigned, by Harold Offeh. The above dates indicate when Harold himself (pictured above) will be ‘in residence’ as the hermit, but you can always volunteer yourself for the role!