Pete Moorhouse, Collected Consciousness, 2013, cor-ten steel. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Synopsis
Collected Consciousness was commissioned by the Friends of Brandon Hill Park for a newly landscaped space which was previously a bowling green. The spherical form of the sculpture is informed by the design of a bowling ball with linear sections that mirror the concentric circles engraved on the surface of a bowling ball which are used by the bowler to give the ball bias.
Brandon Hill Park has a rich history. It was granted to the council in 1174 by the Earl of Gloucester, and used for grazing until 1625 when it became a public open space, possibly the oldest municipal open space in the country making it one of the first “parks”. This was highly innovative at the time and demanded a change in thinking in terms of what constitutes a public space. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century it was also a popular venue for public meetings by reform groups like the Chartists. In 1832, the hill was the location of the Great Reform Dinner, which was famously gate-crashed.
The park is rich with architectural history, at the top of the hill there used to be a hermitage and it remains the home of the Cabot tower which was built to celebrate the discovery of the Americas by John Cabot. The theme of global travel that is referenced in the sculptural form, it’s surface suggesting the longitude and latitude lines of the globe evoking research and exploration. These are further echoed through reference to Bristol’s innovation in other areas, notably the sciences, neurology and ophthalmology, referenced by the lattice work and strata’s of the sculptural steels. The neuron – the birth of a thought – layer of thinking- shifting thought patterns – encompasses many of the ideas at the forefront of the artists mind when conceptualising the work, fused with references to bowling balls, and travel.
Pete Moorhouse
Pete Moorhouse was born in Cheshire in1964 and studied Sculpture at Bristol School of Art and Design. He has exhibited widely, undertaken major commissions and leads sculpture workshops in schools. He has recipient of an Arts Council England Award for Professional Research and Development (2007-2010) and was a Prize Winner in The Rooster Exhibition, Rhode Island, USA (2010), along with a British Council awarded grant for a study course in Reggio Emilia. Residencies include the LPC International Youth summer programme in Switzerland (1999-2009).
