She covered social and political issues, current affairs and the media with a gentle sense of humour. Choice of location was crucial to her work, it’s message and the many interpretations her ideas provoked. For example, in a 1999 commission for the Millennium Dome It Pays to Pray Finn-Kelcey reconfigured a series of vending machines to dispense prayers and motivational statements, each named after a well-known chocolate bar. “I thought that you go to a chocolate vending machine when your blood sugar levels are low, and you pray when your spiritual levels are low, so I wanted to make that connection.” The series of machines were placed along River Walk, outside the Dome.
Rose Finn-Kelcey: Life, Belief and Beyond at Modern Art Oxford 11.10.17
Life, Belief and Beyond at Modern Art Oxford includes examples of Rose Finn-Kelcey’s performance work from the 1970’s and 80’s, through her transition to objects and installations in the 1990’s until 2000. Finn-Kelcey routinely reinvented and developed her work, often reimagining projects with the latest technologies.
