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Antony Gormley to design public art work for Dublin Docklands

The Dublin Docklands Development Authority has announced the appointment of Antony Gormley as the artist in charge of a new and exciting sculptural commission for Docklands.

Engaging hereto unused construction techniques, it is hoped to be able to build a sizable structure, up to 48 metres high, that will be architectural in scale and be a signpost for the realignment of Dublin’s epicentre eastwards.

Mr. Gormley has been inspired by the research of Professor Weaire of TrinityCollege, Dublin who with Professor Phelan unlocked the geometries of the bubble matrix, to radically re-describe the human form as an open structure.  In combination with the advanced geometry unit of Arup Engineers (London), he is hoping to be able to make a river-sited work that arises from the water as a drawing in space.

Commenting on the proposed design, Mr Gormley said: “The work will allude to the human body as a dynamic interconnected matrix evoking the collective body, which is in itself in dynamic relation to the movement of people in the street and across the new Sean O’ CaseyBridge”.

Gormley has evolved this proposal from Field, a vast installation of 35,000 sculptures last seen in Dublin in 1993 at his show in IMMA, where tiny clay objects looked up at the viewer. This dynamic has been reversed in this proposal for Dublin, where the walkers on the street will become the Lilliputians in relation to this subliminally evoked collective body.  The sculpture will read as a drawing against the changing light of the sky, within an area of Dublin that has low rise buildings on both sides of the river.

The final form of the work is yet to be decided and will be the result of ongoing discussions between the research team and the artist.

The appointment of Antony Gormley comes after an international competition and year long selection process for a landmark public art project for the Docklands.

Paul Maloney, Chief Executive of the Docklands Authority, said that the announcement comes at an important time in the Docklands project. "The delivery of the Docklands Arts Strategy is now well on its way with the appointment of Antony Gormley for this sculptural commission, closely following the commencement on site of the new Grand Canal Theatre and the commitment of a site for our national theatre, the Abbey at George's Dock."

The Docklands Authority plans to lodge a planning application for the work before the end of the year.   Subject to planning permission, construction is likely to start during 2008 and, once on site, the work will take approximately eight months to build and will cost in the region of €1.6 million.

A Dublin-based contractor capable of delivering this imaginative and ground breaking work is yet to be appointed. Antony Gormley and Arup Engineers are actively searching at this time for the necessary construction skills and technologies to enable them to deliver the project.

A name for the sculptured art piece has not been decided as of yet, Gormley believes "it has to be in the world before you name it." He looks forward to suggestions and believes a name will be found as the project evolves. The Dublin Docklands Development Authority are welcoming suggestions from the public but an official name wont be decided on until the piece is on site. Send your suggestions with a brief description as to why you came up with it to info@dublindocklands.ie

For further information please contact:
Mary McCarthy, Arts Manager, Docklands Authority - Tel 086 387 4988 or 8183300 mmccarthy@dublindocklands.ie
Loretta Lambkin, Docklands Authority, 01 818 3300, llambkin@dublindocklands.ie
Sheila Gahan WHPR, 01 669 0030 or 087 234 2409 sheila.gahan@ogilvy.com

Editor’s Notes

The selection competition

The competition to select an artist for the Docklands commission was launched in May 2006 when, following an initial approach from the Docklands Authority, six invited Irish and international artists visited the Docklands area and progressed to the next stage of the competition.  The artists continued dialogue with the Docklands Authority in the development of their concepts and submissions were received in Autumn 2006.

The six shortlisted artists included: Dorothy Cross (Ireland); Antony Gormley (UK); Luis Jimenez (USA); Andrew Kearney (Ireland); Thomas Schutte (Germany) and Grace Weir (Ireland).   Tragically, Luis Jimenez passed away during the year.

The selected artists were asked to develop proposals to create works that will be meaningful in the present but also have the capacity to hold interest into the future for the various communities of the Docklands.  In terms of location, artists could consider any available site or series of sites within the Docklands area.  

The Steering Committee for the project was selected to represent the arts, the local community, the city authority and the Docklands Authority.  Its members are:

Patricia Quinn, Chair -Independent Consultant and former director of the Arts Council of Ireland

Betty Ashe, St Andrew’s Resource Centre; Pearse Street

Miroslaw Balka, Artist, Poland

Jack Gilligan, Arts Officer, DublinCity Council;

Seanie Lambe, Inner City Renewal Group;

Declan McCourt, Board Member, Docklands Authority;

Declan MacGonagle, INTERFACE, School of Art and Design, University of Ulster and former director of the IrishMuseum of Modern Art

John McLaughlin, Director of Architecture, Docklands Authority;

Annette Moloney, Independent Consultant and former Arts Council, Public Art Specialist;

Patrick Murphy, DirectorRoyalHibernianAcademy, Dublin

Niamh O’Sullivan, Board Member, Docklands Authority

Cliodhna Shaffrey, Project Manager managed the selection process. 

The project director is Mary McCarthy, Arts Manager, Docklands Authority.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

ANTONY GORMLEY

Antony Gormley was born in London in 1950.  Upon completing a degree in archaeology, anthropology and the history of art at TrinityCollege, Cambridge, he travelled to India, returning to London three years later to study at the Central School of Art, GoldsmithsCollege and the Slade School of Art. 

Over the last 25 years Antony Gormley has revitalised the human image in sculpture through a radical investigation of the body as a place of memory and transformation, using his own body as subject, tool and material.  Since 1990 he has expanded his concern with the human condition to explore the collective body and the relationship between self and other in large-scale installations like Allotment, Critical Mass, Another Place, and most recently Domain Field and Inside Australia.

Antony Gormley: Making Space: A documentary covering the life and work of the sculptor was recently screened on Channel 4 to coincide with the first large scale London exhibition devoted to his celebrated work 'Antony Gormley: Blind Light' runs at the Hayward Gallery until19 August 2007.

Antony Gormley’s work has been exhibited extensively, with solo shows throughout the UK in venues such as the Whitechapel, Tate and Hayward Galleries, the British Museum and White Cube, and internationally at museums including the Louisiana Museum in Humlebaek, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, and the Kolnischer Kunstverein in Germany.

He has participated in major group shows such as the Venice Biennale and the Kassel Documenta 8.   His Field has toured America and Europe, and will tour Asia until 2006. Angel of the North and, most recently, Quantum Cloud on the Thames in Greenwich are amongst the most celebrated examples of contemporary British sculpture.  

He was awarded the Turner Prize in 1994 and the South Bank Prize for Visual Art in 1999 and was made an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1997.  He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, TrinityCollege, Cambridge and JesusCollege, Cambridge, and has been a Royal Academician since 2003.

www.antonygormley.com

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