Castle Contemporary

LONDON—After the parties, megadeals, and general brouhaha of Venice, Basel, and the London auction sales, it is not hard to enjoy the more rustic pleasures of viewing art deep in the countryside, or at least in the grounds of stately homes. Whereas a previous generation of stately home owners turned their domestic landscapes into game parks overrun by cuddly lion cubs, marauding monkeys, and statuesque giraffes, their grandchildren are embracing the no less exotic, brave new world of contemporary art.

The romantic, crenellated Sudeley Castle, parts of which date back more than a thousand years, was once a handy stopover for Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Charles I, and George III. I wonder what these royals would have thought of the activities of daughter-of-the-castle Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst (also of Gagosian, London) and curator Elliot McDonald (curator of the Hiscox collection), who have assembled some tremendous new work for "Reconstruction 2," which runs from June 23 to October 31.

Much of the best work at Sudeley is site specific. Matt Collishaw's Lady M employs the oak pulpit of the chapel as a platform for a projection piece. A carved figure of Madonna holding a shroud spears through the oval opening—draw closer, and with the help of hidden cameras, you see the reflection of your own face. Jane and Louise Wilson use local church bells as the starting point for a specially designed interactive outdoor sound-piece, The Silence is Twice as Fast as Backwards 2007, which weaves the clanging bells into the score of Jean Cocteau's Orphee. Tim Noble and Sue Webster's Spinning Heads (topiary version) (2007) is a work in progress, made of still-growing privet (Ligustrum jonandrum) and a wire frame.

A few days before heading to "Reconstruction #2," I had seen Conrad Shawcross at a lunch to announce the Guangzhou Triennale in 2008. This was the day before he was due to install Untitled 2007 at Sudeley, and he was worried that he might be electrocuted during the process. But Conrad didn't get electrocuted, and Untitled 2007 is a beautiful piece. The work depicts the relationship between two lightbulbs positioned in the middle of a pond. The lights move; they dance away and toward each other, spiraling out from the center and back in again; but they never touch.

Keith Tyson's Disembodied Dynamic No. 1 A Particle Promenade is a monumental coiled work lodged in the earth and meant to be navigated by strolling couples, earthworms, and the elements. Also navigable is Jim Lambie's Secret Affair 2007, a series of seven large stainless-steel keyholes spread out around the grounds for visitors to discover.

But perhaps the most appropriate of the site-specific pieces—or at least the one that the monarchs who visited Sudeley centuries ago would have best understood—is Vito Acconci/Acconci Studio's Face of the Earth1 l984, rebuilt 2007. From a distance, it appears to be a flat-topped hedge, cut like topiary. But go closer, and you realize it is a table-high platform in the shape of a face, looking up from the ground, with the features of the face carved out into various declivities in which people can sit. The work recalls the mystifying transformation scenes from the court masques so beloved of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, as well as the curious statuary in that most magical and mysterious of gardens, Bomarzo.

When the Devonshires Met the Rubells

Ireland, or more specifically Lismore Castle, the Dukes of Devonshires' fishing stronghold, has a new and interesting role. Lord Burlington, the son of the current Duke, has staged "Titled/Untitled," featuring works from the Devonshire and Rubell family collections. Here, contemporary art collides with stately home art—we get Darren Almond next to Van Dyck, Carlo Cignani, and Gainsborough; and Nathalie Djurberg, Dara Friedman, and Anri Sala alongside Sir Peter Lely. The Rubells have been collecting since the l960s; the Devonshire collection dates back more than 500 years. But remember, when the Devonshires bought Van Dyck and Gainsborough, they were cutting-edge contemporary artists. Many of these works have never been seen in public before, and if you can get over to County Waterford this is well worth the visit.