The Mount

Audio work for mobile phone, commissioned by Steven Bode/FVU for Create 2011, London.

At the Royal London Hospital Museum, Newark Street, London E1

June 24th-July 25th 2011

On the site of the Royal London Hospital, just to the West of the main building, stood the Whitechapel Mount, a hill of unverifiable height which was reputed to have been built in Saxon times for the defence of the city. It reputedly grew higher, more substantial as waste materials - including the charred remains of the City after the Great Fire - were heaped upon it. In the late 1750s, at the time of the planning and building of the Hospital that now stands close to its original site, the Mount became a picturesque destination, with a gazebo, numerous trees and serpentine paths wending their way to its summit, from which Limehouse, Poplar and the hamlets beyond were made visible. It was finally dismantled, its earth and rubble scattered by the handcart-load back into the land to the east of the City, leaving only Mount Terrace and several engravings as reminders of its huge physical presence - a mountain at the heart of the East End. In this new work for mobile phone, on the former site of the Mount, (now part of Royal London Hospital) Pope provides an opportunity for visitors to imagine the climb to this vantage point and the views which may open to them.

Further information on The Whitechapel Mount can be found at the Royal London Hospital Museum at St. Philip's Church Newark Street, London E1 2AA. (Open Tuesday-Friday, 10am-4.30pm)