Monster Chetwynd Unveils Underground Commission

Chetwynd told us about the wealth of amphibian life and British history crammed into Pond Life at the disused Gloucester Road Tube station.

Monster Chetwynd's Art on the Underground Commission Pond Life: Albertopolis and the Lily opened in the disused section of Gloucester Road Tube station today.

The project includes sculptures of water-dwelling creatures including frogs, salamanders and tortoises, and a new film entitled, The Fact Hungry Witch.

This bubbling brew is absolutely steeped in biology, history, and Chetwynd's creativity. We asked her about her maximalist approach in just two maximalist questions.

1. Pond Life: Albertopolis and the Lily takes inspiration from The Crystal Palace, which was built in Hyde Park (near the Gloucester Road Tube station) in 1851 with a design by (Cavendish banana cultivator) Joseph Paxton based on the giant (monster-sized) Amazonian lily (Victoria amazonica), which smells like pineapple.

Albertopolis refers to an area in London named after Prince Albert, who was Prince Consort when the Palace was built. If the Palace was a lily, the underground naturally becomes a pond for you to inhabit with sculptures of frogs, salamanders, and tortoises.

There's so much life and history—overwhelming, like frog spawn—crammed into this project! And you drop so many references when you talk about it—the film Babylon (1980) and John Betjeman's Metro-Land (1973), among them. What appeals to you about this maximalism, this density, this riffing on convergences, this fecundity of creativity, which Elon Musk, for one, complains keeps him up at night?

Your question is about my attraction to visual overload, condensed mental environment, multiple juxtapositions, exploded cross pollination, diversity.

I think there is a different form that takes shape when you research conventionally but then allow the ideas to develop intuitively. You let go. You allow the Ed Wood mesh of aliens, cowboys and vampires all happily into one plot, add some stock footage of stampeding Buffalo and simmer.

I don't think it keeps me up at night, that's more me trying to pay bills and do life admin but I do enjoy history and trying to gain the pieces of all the jigsaw puzzles. I felt very isolated and stressed at times learning the complicated history of the Victorian era.

I have learned since that it is crucial to share with other people who are also researching and changing the way information is disseminated and displayed. I read a brilliant essay by Miranda Lowe on how to decolonialise the Natural History Museum.

I am happy reading your question as you allow for playfulness as if it is a given. I wondered if it is inappropriate to be playful when some of the history I am exploring is heavy-handed and linked to pumping up the national pride in the great exhibition and allowing a justification to usurp power, people, and territory.

On one hand I am lifting the lid and the information runs into complicated history and I feel obligated to research it further. On the other hand I am as irresponsible as ever, never bowing to self-censorship, unapologetic, full of over-enthusiasm and fan culture.

It is natural to me to reference Babylon (1980) and Metroland in the same breath because I saw both films when I was a teenager. The poly-vocal and the cross referencing seems natural to me because I am a curious person. I will always go to all the parties or try to meet lots of different people because I am curious. Quite often I get into trouble and have to retreat until I work out the way I can go again.

2. I'm so curious about the 'Fact Hungry Witch' (whose pronouns are ze and per). You give Enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot as a comparison, but (without your erudition) ze strikes me as a kind of inverse-Philomena Cunk, presenting as totally unserious but actually intellectually precise. How would you describe per, and per function in the broader project?

Yes, The Fact Hungry Witch is sincere. I visited the Museum of Jurassic Technology in LA when I was 25 years old. I went there on my own by public transport. When I entered, the spaces were very dark and all the displays had ludicrous information mixed with what could be called 'truth'.

I found the experience very frightening. Although everyone I have ever met who knows about the place loves it. I went from room to room holding my neck as if a vampire was about to lunge at me. I realised after the experience that I rely on the authority of truth.

I desire factual information that I want to learn. I like early Adam Curtis documentaries with archival footage and a clear premise.

One problem the Fact Hungry Witch seems to come up against is the question why is ze wearing a glittering catsuit. I can't understand the question, how does the appearance of the witch affect the information ze researches?

The Fact Hungry witch is sincere in decolonialising and I am with per, in lifting veils and seeing clearly and wanting to discover rather than ignore. You are correct in guessing the effort is 'straight' natural enthusiasm like Fred Dibnah (1938–2004) [whose infectious interest in subjects like engineering and construction was the subject of the documentary Fred Dibnah, Steeplejack (1979)]. —[O]