Stamping Uncertainty, 2004

This book is a both a document of the installation and a critical evaluation of a place. In this instance the place is the Chapter house at Canterbury Cathedral. Stamping Uncertainty was commissioned by Canterbury Council as a temporary installation for Canterbury Cathedral. The work continued the artist’s research into Faith and Place. As a material work it sought to bring knowledge of the sites context engendering debate around notions of Uncertainty as a principle of belief. 

The book fully illustrates the construction of this major installation installation which explores the nature of doubt and the struggle for faith expressed in the Church’s hymn book.  

…Stamping onto paper is normally seen as an expression of bureaucratic certainty, an absolute truth, thus, by subverting their use; Newling has succinctly created a metaphor for two thousand years of spiritual exploration.  Walking through this immense field of lecterns will be to experience a physical, as well as emotional and spiritual sensation of walking through uncertainty…

A hard back, cloth bound book with beautiful uncoated papers and illustrated section.136 pages.

Stamping Uncertainty. First Edition. London: SWPA. Includes Essays by Newling and Andrew Spira (Christie’s Education) ISBN 0  9547300 03 (Hard back, 136 pages.)