Block Buster

Eva Rothschild thinks big for the Irish Pavilion

Clusters of trial-and-error maquettes and memories of spray paint frenzies dot the floors and walls at the studio of Irish sculptor Eva Rothschild. There are a paint-splattered radio mumbling and a sculpture dangling from the ceiling that resembles one of those wire head massagers that make your neck tingle.

The studio is part of a post-war block overlooking London’s Regent’s Canal. Outside, gentrification marches on as the last shreds of gasworks London are tidied away. Inside, Regent Studios seems unaffected, still a community of makers and small businesses. Rothschild first visited the block in 2001 to edit a film. It has been her base for the past eight years, though the small space seems wholly incompatible with the substantial scale of her practice. ‘It’s insane, but we’ve managed pretty well,’ she says.