The retrospective view of the pathway, 2016. Artist impression, courtesy of Witherford Watson Mann architects.
Synopsis
Bristol City Council is currently working with the artist Roger Hiorns and architects Witherford Watson Mann on a major new public art commission for Bristol’s Temple Quay waterfront. The artwork, which will be the final element of the Temple Quay waterfront master-plan, is one of the artist’s largest permanent public art works to date.
Temple Quay Central is a new a mixed use scheme situated on Bristol’s floating harbour and located close to Temple Meads Station, Bristol’s main railway hub. The development comprises a number of blocks including offices and residential buildings, a new bridge, hotel and conference suite. Behind the waterfront are a number of new residential blocks developed by house builder Barratt Homes together with an improved residential area know as The Dings.
As part of the planning consent for the Temple Quay Central site, Bristol City Council agreed funding for a major public art commission for the waterfront site. Bristol City Council, which is undertaking the commission as part of its consultancy arm are working closely with the artist and architects in the development of the work which is scheduled to complete in summer 2016.
The public art commission will make a distinctive contribution to the development of the area, reinforcing Temple Quay Central as a key destination within the city centre. The level of ambition of this project demonstrates Castlemore’s commitment to art patronage for Temple Quay Central.
*Project Steering group members (past and present): Lisa Panting – Director: Picture This; Nav Haq – Curator, Arnolfini; Simon Morrissey – Director, Works Projects / Foreground Projects; Claire Doherty – Director, Situations (at the University of the West of England); Markus Eisenmann – Course Leader, Fine Art (BA), University of the West of England; Helen Legg – Director, Spike Island; Aldo Rinaldi – Senior Public Art Officer, Bristol City Council.
For further information on the project, please contact Aldo Rinaldi on + 44 (0) 117 922 3064 or email aldo.rinaldi@bristol.gov.uk
ROGER HIORNS
Hiorns (born 1975, Birmingham) is the leading artist of his generation. In 2009 he was nominated for the renowned Turner Prize for his celebrated work Seizure, a huge crystallisation in an empty London apartment. Hiorns‘ installations and sculptures generate and occupy the lacunae between divergent ideas: construction and destruction, the theological and the technical, the temporary and the permanent, authoritarian control and spontaneity. His work is informed by a functional, material presence, which is, however, always combined with a sense of the imaginary, the poetic or the esoteric.
He has exhibited widely internationally including solo shows at The Hepworth, Wakefield, (2013), MIMA, Middlesbrough (2012), Aspen Art Museum, Aspen (2010), The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (2010), the Tate Britain, London (2010), the Camden Arts Centre, London (2007) and the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2003). He will exhibit at the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham in 2016.
His work ‘Seizure’, commissioned by Artangel in 2008 is now on show at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Hiorns also participated in several group exhibitions amongst others at the Hayward Gallery, London (2015), Colombus Museum of Art in Ohio, Ohio (2014), Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow (2014), Taipei Biennial, Taipei (2014), The National Gallery, London (2014), 55th Venice Biennale, Venice (2013), Marrakech Biennale 4th Biennale, Marrakech (2012) CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux (2011) and many other.
The retrospective view of the pathway was commissioned by Bristol City Council on behalf of Castlemore as part of the development of Temple Quay. The project was curated by Aldo Rinaldi and has been funded by Castlemore with further support from Bristol City Council, Arnolfini and Corvi Mora Gallery, London.
Aldo Rinaldi
Witherford Watson Mann are architects and urban designers. Established in 2001, they make buildings that are durable and generous, responding to unconventional institutions and historically layered sites. The practice won the Stirling Prize in 2013 with their inventive rehabilitation of the ruined Astley Castle in Warwickshire for the Landmark Trust. Other significant completed projects include the reworking of the Whitechapel Gallery in London (2003-9), the Arts council England northwest offices in Manchester 2011 and their first built project, the UK headquarters for Amnesty International (2003-5). WWM designed the Barbican exhibition curated by British photographer Martin Parr, “Strange and Familiar” and their proposal for an ‘Almshouse for the 21st Century’ in Bermondsey, for United St. Saviour’s Charity was recently granted planning permission. www.wwmarchitects.co.uk
Bristol is one of the leading cities in the UK for public art commissioning and for its programme of projects with artists of local, national and international significance. Our programme focuses on the development of visionary public art works across the city, outside of the conventional gallery and museum setting. The public art programme has been active since the adoption of a public art policy by Bristol City Council (BCC) in 2000, and the development of a Public Art Strategy that followed in 2003. To date over 100 commissions have been produced within a diverse range of contexts, including public spaces, housing, health, retail, education and local parks. For further information on Bristol’s public art programme visit www.aprb.co.uk
Bristol’s Harbour, a sinuous water body that winds its way through the city centre possesses a significant historical element. It is a feat of engineering with a lock system designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and is lined with historical artefacts such as the SS Great Britain, The Industrial Museum (M Shed) and shipping elements. It is an active waterway.
