Time Sensor

    Caroline Wendling and Sally Stenton

    Artists in Residence

    Summer 2026

    Location: The Bridge Chapel in St. Ives: a 600 year old ancient monument in the middle of a medieval bridge over the Great River Ouse.

    By invitation of the Norris Museum in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, Caroline Wendling and Sally Stenton worked collaboratively, using drawing, thread and the body to experiment with the sensing of time.

    Resonances between then and now are explored through mundane gestures and sensory experiences shared across past, present and future, with movement, sound and thread as the holding methods and materials.

    Every day they took it in turns to close their eyes and select a word, prompting unexpected explorations.

    For one hour a day the door was left ajar for passers by to step inside and at the end of the 9 days the artwork arising from their explorations was exhibited in the space with over 670 visitors over a period of 4 days and one evening.

    With thanks to Judy, Fiona, Andrew and Chris, to the Norris Museum and all their wonderful volunteer invigilators and the Coop for their support.

    Day 1

    09:06:2026

    Refusal

    Refusal became movement and a visceral response. Entrapped in a circling energy. Separate bodies submit with a kind of smothering that breaks into care and defiance

    Day 2

    10:06:2026

    Wonderment

    A ritual for dampening dandelions stems
    Prompted in the moment, ready for the future

    Gestures create a simple present
    Yesterday’s gestures the same as today’s

    Twisting stalks to create twine and time
    Three strangers visit, three wonderments

    The door ajar invites miracles
    We left the chapel with a sense of wunder and wonder.

    Day 3

    11:07:2026

    Playfully

    To play fully today
    A resilience, a whimsical energy,
    The modest dandelion from cordage to object
    Gently offered strength to create magic.

     

     

    Keep still

    don’t talk

    Faces crease

    the crown falls

    laughter erupts from the failure

    Day 4

    12:07:2026

    Over

    The world over – stepping beyond

    The word is over and the first week is over

    Twisting and drawing over

    We draw over each others marks

    The sun and window panes fall over the paper

    Singing over drawing

    Drawing to a close

    Philosophical time

    Day 5

    29:07.2026

    Poly

    We play with the meaning of the word and it’s many possibilities:

    polycentred [movement]

    polyculture

    polydurational rhythm

     

    Connected and guided with thread

    The thread made 2 bodies into a moving entity

    Moving to your movement; response, free action

    Puppet and puppeteer are one

    Drawing together the synchronic centres of motion

    Drawing tussles, control and submission

    Connected to many

    Day 6

    30:06:2026

    Apologetically

    Bodies trapped in sorrow, inerte
    “Redemption” in action and words
    Time, elastic time, unpredictable time
    Memories of scientific drawings; dreamlike
    Dandelion lakes without apology

    Caroline

    Threads tied around bodies

    Closed movements

    Bowing down

    An apology to the dandelion

    After lunch – no more apologies

    A shift to fast unapologetic drawing

    Time moves more slowly

    when we draw faster

    Fast moves over slow marks

    The slow is steady ground for free movement

    Sally

    Day 7

    01:07:2026

    Vessel

     

    Dandelion: vascular plant, transporter
    Xylem and phloem; water passes – connections
    River as vessel
    Blood vessels
    Water passes
    In constant flow reaching the infinite
    Contained, carried and circulated

    Caroline

    The bottles hold infusions of dandelion

    We take the dandelion into our bodies

    and imagine the sounds of plant and body fluids

    through the sound of  drawing

    Sally

    Day 8

    02:07:2026

    interdependence

    Curated the spaces in between
    Sound, sound systems connections established
    Collaboration amongst chairs and thread and WE; from static to movement it made a whole connected world.

    Caroline

     

    After the residency we float above the experience and notice the possibilities that have opened up through our playful experimentation.

    the precarity of interdependence

    the human dissolves into the Whole Ecology

    Sally

     

    Day 9

    03:07:2026

    Float

     

    Ice cube delivery, tech, info, cleaning and washing

    Last minute prep

    Dandelion iced tea and fruit

    Films and sound in place

    Drawings, dandelion cordage and sculpture in position

    Ready for the visitors’ enjoyment

    We welcomed people of all ages and walks of life to the Chapel: 75 people on the opening night and over 600 over the next 2 weekends.

    Exhibition of work from the residency

    03:07:2026 to 12:07:202

    Each day we took it in turns to close our eyes and pick a spiral of paper with a single word. The words triggered our activity for the day and later formed the titles of the transitory artworks displayed in the exhibition.

    List of works in progress:

    1. Poly: drawn with our hands attached to each other by thread

    2. Apologetically:  dandelion pigment and drawing fast over slow

    3. Wonderment:  dandelion cordage initiation ritual

    4. Refusal:  from rejection to feisty regeneration

    5. Playfully:  collaborative playful drawing and undrawing (video)

    6. Vessel:  plant, body, drawing sounds (audio)

    7. Vessel:  drawing with sounds that imitate interiors of plant and body: xylem, phloem, arteries

    8. Interdependence:  chairs and thread

    9. Seated time:  an invitation to sit over looking the river and notice

    10. Playfully:  collaborative playful drawing

    11. Over:  alternate drawing over each other’s marks

    12. Poly: connected and guided with thread (video)

    Numbers are shown on the photos

    Bridge level

    Downstairs