York Castle Museum

Thirty Pieces of Silver

Many thanks to Invent Partners for producing this film of Thirty Pieces of Silver being installed.

by Cornelia Parker

28 May - 30 October, 2011

Art in Yorkshire - supported by Tate

Thirty Pieces of Silver comprises over a thousand silver objects, including plates, spoons, candlesticks, trophies, cigarette cases, teapots and trombones, which Cornelia Parker collected and then flattened with a steamroller.

The squashed objects are arranged into thirty disc-shaped groups and suspended from the ceiling by fine wires, about a foot off the ground so that they seem to hover.

A view across the church

This year's installation is part of Art in Yorkshire - supported by Tate, a year-long celebration of the visual arts in 19 galleries throughout Yorkshire. Works from Tate's collection of historic, modern and contemporary art, including this piece, are being showcased through a compelling programme of exhibitions and events.

Each commission and installation in York St Mary's reveals a different interpretation of the space, fabric and history of the church. There are clear links to religion in the title of the work – thirty pieces of silver being the payment that Judas received for betraying Jesus. Further references to the story of the Last Supper can be found in the objects themselves such as cutlery and dinner plates.

Groups of silver

In Thirty Pieces of Silver, the discs hover like spirits over gravestones laid on the ground of the nave of the church. In seeing the installation, it brings to mind the past lives of the silver objects and also the past lives of those people who prayed in the church and who were buried here.

Parker is fascinated with materials and discovering their possibilities. Objects made from silver are meaningful and are often ceremonial, but through artistic intervention, their life is ended and they are reborn as something else. Though they may have begun life with different meanings, purposes and values, each object is resigned to the same fate and has equal value.

A close-up of some of the silver objects

Parker says: "Thirty Pieces of Silver is about materiality and then about anti-matter. In the gallery the ruined objects are ghostly levitating just above the floor, waiting to be reassessed in the light of their transformation. The title, because of its biblical references, alludes to money, to betrayal, to death and resurrection: more simply it is a literal description of the piece." (from the British Art Show exhibition catalogue, Hayward Gallery, London 1990).

The piece is the sixth installation to be presented by York Museums Trust, funded by the Arts Council.

All the images of Thirty Pieces of Silver are by Shannon Tofts.