The eye-catching outdoor art installations not to miss in 2018
The eye-catching outdoor art installations not to miss in 2018
From sculptures you can slide down, to gravity-defying installations, we bring you the best of the world’s art making its mark en plein air...
Yinka Shonibare is having a moment in the US. The British-Nigerian artist recently installed one of his signature batik-inspired Wind Sculptures at The National Museum of African American Art in Washington DC. Now, Shonibare has unveiled his first public art commission in New York – at Central Park no less. Presented by nonprofit organisation Public Art Fund, the 23ft tall fibreglass sculpture is the first in a new generation of Wind Sculptures, taking on a deeper, and more dynamically twisting form than previous iterations – the 55-year-old has described it as an attempt to ‘playfully sculpt the impossible’. Visitors will find it difficult to miss this billowing hand-painted sculpture, which uses a palette of turquoise, red, and orange – colours that recall Shonibare’s childhood on the beaches of Lagos. Shonibare has called the Dutch wax batik print that inspires his work the ‘perfect metaphor for multilayered identities’. Ultimately, isn’t that what New York is all about?
Wind Sculpture (SG) I is on view until 14 October; Doris C Freedman Plaza, access via southeast entrance, Central Park, New York, US
Writer: Jessica Klingelfuss. Courtesy of Yinka Shonibare MBE, Public Art Fund, New York and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
Swept away with Yinka Shonibare
New York, US
With International Women’s Day (8 March) just around the corner, female artists are enjoying their moment in the spotlight more than ever. Case in point: Zoe Buckman, who has just unveiled her first-ever public art installation, Champ, in front of the The Standard Hollywood hotel in Los Angeles. Presented by Art Production Fund with support from fashion label Alice + Olivia by Stacey Bendet, the kinetic 43ft tall neon artwork – depicting an abstracted uterus with fibreglass boxing gloves in place of ovaries – will slowly rotate on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Sweetzer Avenue. ‘Whether it speaks to reproductive rights or advocacy around domestic violence, or women’s health awareness, my goal is to give agency to these women whilst also transcending gender in the fight for women’s rights,’ says the London-born artist, now based in New York. ‘The use of boxing gloves as stereotypically masculine objects, and the choice to use white light for its neutral quality, will hopefully encourage us all to band together in face of current adversity.’
Champ is on view until February 2019; The Standard Hollywood, 8300 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069, US
Writer: Jessica Klingelfuss. Photography: Veli-Matti Hoikka. Courtesy of Art Production Fund
Zoe Buckman steps in the ring
Los Angeles, US
Design Awards 2018 judge Daan Roosegaarde believes that design should genuinely improve quality of life. Now, Studio Roosegaarde has garnered international acclaim with its Smog Free Tower, a 7m tall air cleanser that purifies 30,000 m3 of air per hour, on as much energy as a water boiler. The tower is currently occupying Park Jordana in Kraków, Poland, promoting an optimistic vision of a cleaner future.
Park Jordana, Aleja 3 Maja 11, 30-062 Kraków, Poland
Writer: Luke Halls
‘Smog Free Tower’ by Studio Roosegaarde
Kraków, Poland
ING Bank Śląski SA partnered with Roosegaarde Studio to bring the tower to Kraków, having adopted the Green Statement in 2017 to actively find innovative solutions to prevent air pollution. A pop-up exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Kraków joins the tower – part of Roosegaarde’s larger work ‘Landscapes of the Future’, connecting people, technology and space to improve quality of life in urban environments.
Park Jordana, Aleja 3 Maja 11, 30-062 Kraków, Poland
Writer: Luke Halls
‘Smog Free Tower’ by Studio Roosegaarde
Kraków, Poland
Downtown Toronto has received a fresh wave of public installations this winter. Spread across the city’s waterfront, winning submissions of the Ice Breakers design competition come from Canadian, Chinese and Portuguese studios, designed under the theme of constellations. Winning designs include Winter FanFare (pictured) by Thena Tak from Vancouver, as well as Root Cabin by Winnipeg’s Liz Wreford and Peter Samson of Public City Architecture.
HTO Park West, 375 Queens Quay W, Toronto, ON M5V 1A2, Canada
Writer: Luke Halls
Ice Breakers
Toronto, Canada
Another winning submission Through the Eyes of the Bear (pictured), by Tanya Goertzen of Calgary-based People Places, is constructed from completely renewable, recyclable and compostable materials. The buried bear invites user interaction, asking onlookers to consider their own relationship with nature by literally looking ‘through the bear’s eyes’. Goertzen looked to the Ursa Major constellation for inspiration, which is widely known as the ‘Great Bear’. Waterfront BIA’s Executive Director Carol Jolly sees the new installations as having ‘really brought a community together’ during the colder months, and are reason enough to head water-side this winter.
HTO Park West, 375 Queens Quay W, Toronto, ON M5V 1A2, Canada
Writer: Luke Halls
Ice Breakers
Toronto, Canada
London’s art-filled Kensington Gardens has gained a new public sculpture outside Serpentine Galleries. Following in the footprints of works by Michael Craig-Martin, Alex Katz, and Anish Kapoor, Lee Ufan’s Relatum – Stage continues the South Korean artist’s renowned ‘Relatum’ series, ongoing in global public spaces since the 1960s. Comprising two, angled, mirrored-steel sheets and two different-sized stones, this new work aims to merge the natural and industrial in a poetic installation that reflects the peace of the Park – a haven in its city centre spot.
Serpentine Galleries, Kensington Gardens, London W2 3XA, UK; www.serpentinegalleries.org
Writer: Elly Parsons
‘Relatum – Stage’ by Lee Ufan
London, UK
‘I like to give fluidity to typically inflexible things, transcending their material nature,’ says British sculptor Alex Chinneck of his latest outlandish installation – an enormous brick column that he has seemingly ‘tied in a knot’. The installation mimics similar columns that feature prominently on and inside a 450-year-old museum in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany. ‘This intervention took an opportunity to defy logic and distort history,’ says the artist. The work titled ‘Birth, death and a midlife crisis’, complements a new exhibition of Chinneck’s work happening concurrently inside the museum, featuring a wooden broom (also knotted) leaning comically against the wall.
‘Knots’ is on view until 8 April; Städtische Galerie Kornhaus, Max-Eyth-Strasse 19, 73230 Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany; www.kornhausgaleriekirchheim.wordpress.com
Writer: Elly Parsons
‘Knots’ by Alex Chinneck
Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany
Robert Indiana once said, ‘It’s the role of the artist – my particular role, if you will – to make words and numbers very, very special.’ It’s a role the celebrated American artist exercised when creating his seminal word-art, LOVE WALL and ONE through ZERO, which Paul Kasmin Gallery has brought to 515 West Street, New York City. Indiana’s archetypal LOVE compositions, with their bold serif lettering, is one of the most ubiquitous works of art of the 20th century. It’s return to New York marks not only 15 years representation with Paul Kasmin, but the artist’s 90th birthday.
‘Robert Indiana’ is on view until 3 March; 515 W 27th Street, New York, NY 10001, US; www.paulkasmingallery.com
Writer: Elly Parsons
Robert Indiana
New York, US
Miami’s answer to Anish Kapoor’s ARCELORMITTAL ORBIT in London, will get you feeling ‘somewhere between delight and madness’, says its creator Carsten Höller. Housed at Aventura Mall, Miami’s premier shopping destination (home to a world-class contemporary art collection), the nine-storey slide is Höller’s first in America.
Aventura Mall, 19501 Biscayne Blvd, Aventura, FL 33180, US; www.aventuramall.com
Writer: Elly Parsons
Aventura slide tower by Carsten Höller
Miami, US
After climbing a titanium steel staircase, visitors will plummet 93 feet at 15 miles per hour, enjoying dizzying views of the new, three-level expansion wing of the Aventura Mall (which houses works by Louise Bourgeois, Jorge Pardo, The Haas Brothers and Daniel Arsham, among others). This permanent installation will be free to the (daredevil) public.
Aventura Mall, 19501 Biscayne Blvd, Aventura, FL 33180, US; www.aventuramall.com
Writer: Elly Parsons
Aventura slide tower by Carsten Höller
Miami, US
Gibbs Farm – a 1000-acre open-air sculpture park in Kaipara Harbour, near Auckland – features over 30 monumental sculptures from a roll-call of top international contemporary artists including Richard Serra, Anish Kapoor and Andy Goldsworthy. All works are commissioned by Alan Gibbs, a New Zealand businessman, entrepreneur and art collector who has been assembling the Gibbs Farm collection for 26 years. Now, British artist Gerry Judah has joined the cast, with Jacob’s Ladder – a sweeping, 110ft tall sculpture made out of square-sectioned steel tube.
Gibbs Farm Sculpture Park, 2421 Kaipara Coast Hwy, Makarau 0984, New Zealand; www.gibbsfarm.org.nz
Writer: Elly Parsons. Photography: David Hartley-Mitchell
‘Jacob’s Ladder’ by Gerry Judah
Makarau, New Zealand
Jacob’s Ladder (a colloquial term referring to the connection between the earth and heaven) is made from 480 lengths of steel, stacked one on top of each other. Each layer is slightly different in length and size, so the sculpture appears to shift and rotate, producing the final gracefully curving shape – despite the components themselves all being straight steel sections. Despite its physical rigidity, the sculpture evokes both a hurricane, and smoke billowing from a fire, appearing to blow in the wind.
Gibbs Farm Sculpture Park, 2421 Kaipara Coast Hwy, Makarau 0984, New Zealand; www.gibbsfarm.org.nz
Writer: Elly Parsons. Photography: David Hartley-Mitchell
‘Jacob’s Ladder’ by Gerry Judah
Makarau, New Zealand
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