Salisbury Cathedral celebrates 800 years with an exhibition featuring Tony Cragg and Shirazeh Houshiary

8 May 2020

To mark the 800 year anniversary of Salisbury Cathedral's move to its present site, an exhibition will feature as part of Salisbury 2020, City on the Move, a year-long programme of celebratory events and activities across the city.

The exhibition, Celebrating 800 Years of Spirit & Endeavor, will feature Tony Cragg and Shirazeh Houshiary alongside works by Antony Gormley, Henry Moore, Grayson Perry, Conrad Shawcross and Mark Wallinger, among others.

Shirazeh Housiary's String Quintet (2011), is an evocation of sound waves with their varying flow patterns, referencing the music which is central to Cathedral life. Tony Cragg's iridescent sculpture Sail (2016) could remind visitors of the ornate marble altars found in ecclesiastical settings such as Salisbury. The multipartite sculpture is carved from the gemstone, white onyx, a material associated with purification, reflecting the Cathedral's meditative environment.

The exhibition 'Celebrating 800 Years of Spirit and Endeavor' was originally scheduled to open on 25 March and run through 25 November, 2020. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis the opening has been postponed. A recently launched virtual interactive tour can now be experienced online, click here to view.

For more information visit Salisbury Cathedral 's website.

Image: Tony Cragg, Sail, 2016

Onyx, 220 x 114 x 34 cm, 86 5/8 x 44 7/8 x 13 3/8 in

Video: Shirazeh Houshiary, String Quintet, 2011

Cast Stainless Steel
500 x 135.1 x 116.7 cm, 196 7/8 x 53 1/4 x 46 in

Video by John E. Fry