insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 15 - May 2016 | Page 17

ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT CASS SCULPTURE FOUNDATION A BEAUTIFUL DISORDER May-November 2016 Cass Sculpture Foundation was established in 1992 by Wilfred and Jeannette Cass. Set within 26 acres of West Sussex countryside, the Foundation was conceived as a unique not-for-profit organisation. It is composed of exhibition spaces, an archive, an educational resource and a commissioning body. © Cass Sculpture Foundation, © Cass Sculpture Foundation, Cui Jie, Pigeon House, 2015 Wang Yuyang, Identity (Rendering), 2016 © Cass Sculpture Foundation, Tu Wei-Cheng, Bu Num Civilisation Wheel, 2015 Barnaby Hindle © Cass Sculpture Foundation, Tony Cragg, Declination, 2005 Profoundly committed to fostering new, as well as established talent, the organisation commissions as many as 15 works every year. It is consequently home to a constantly evolving display that has included sculptures by Antony Caro, Eduardo Paolozzi, Rachel Whiteread, Tony Cragg, Antony Gormley and Sara Barker amongst others. The historical relationship between English and Chinese landscape aesthetics is the starting point and inspiration for these contemporary Chinese and Greater Chinese artists. The title of the exhibition, A Beautiful Disorder, is a quote from an influential letter written by the Jesuit missionary and artist Jean-Denis Attiret in 1743 that had a tremendous effect on English garden culture. This spring, Cass Sculpture Foundation is delighted to present a major exhibition of new outdoor sculptures created by 16 contemporary Chinese artists entitled A Beautiful Disorder. Attiret used the term to describe the ability of the Chinese garden to provoke violent and often opposing sensations in the viewer through a series of theatrical framing devices. The exhibition invites the viewer to reflect on China’s past, present and future relationship with the world at large, and provides valuable insight into the state of Chinese culture,