Victorian passengers waiting for trains at Peckham Rye luxuriated in a huge room above the ticket hall, which eventually fell out of favour and became a billiard hall, which eventually fell out of favour and was closed. Now 60 years later The Waiting Room has been restored and reopened, in this case as a venue for one of Artangel's larger pieces, allowing the general public to get back inside for free. Access is via a separate staircase to the left of the main entrance, which after two curling flights delivers you to a "sculptural environment" devised by New York artist Sarah Sze.
What you see is the skeleton of a large globe upon which multiple fragments of video are being projected, plus additional images progressing round the walls. Take a seat and watch as the hypnotic performance plays out, ideally from somewhere in the front row. Fragments of video you might spot include a pool of bubbling lava, an industrial vat of dough and someone manhandling a deck of playing cards, plus the occasional break for a full-on flock of birds or a sweep across the night sky. Just don't worry about trying to understand what you're seeing, even if you picked up the leaflet, because the room is dark and you won't be able to read it.
Sarah says her inspiration was the 'extreme hurricane' brought on by the introduction of the railways, mirrored by her focus on the modern advance of social media. Sarah says her installation "offers a model of time and space in our volatile world", that her globe's fragility alludes to "the thin membrane of life on the surface of our planet" and that the flickering videos "explore the tenuous threshold between the digital and the analogue". She also says a lot about cultivating the value of a concrete experience in space, and maybe it's for the best that the lights are off and you can make of it what you will.
Eventually you'll go for a wander round the back of the central sculpture - it's encouraged - and engage with the walls and the additional imagery being projected on them. Unfortunately the twirling video projectors will repeatedly strike you in the face, destroying any hope of attaining optimum night vision, and you may deduce that the chairs were the better option after all. I confess my chief thought was "but they went to all that effort to restore this marvellous chamber and then they invite you to visit it in the dark", so I was pleased I'd come indaylight for 2017's Open House. Nevertheless The Waiting Room remains quite the experience and you have until 17th September to see it (or not see it) for yourself.
