We are thrilled to announce that the winner of the Arts & Science Sculpture Commission is Juneau Projects, with their proposed sculpture Mosswerk.
A big thank you to everyone who voted for their favourite sculpture proposal, and to all of our fantastic finalists: Andrew Gillespie, Intervention Architecture and Hipkiss and Graney.
Juneau Projects
Mosswerk
Image credit: Patrick Dandy
About the sculpture
Mosswerk is a wooden tower structure with a decorated exterior of laser-cut organic imagery representing the life cycle of moss. Exploring the artists’ long-standing concern with the relationship between technology nature and people, the imagery will be developed through collaborative conversations and creative workshops enabling students, researchers, staff and the wider local community at University of Birmingham to directly influence the design of the sculpture.
The sculpture will have a hollow centre with an integral watering system and will be treated to moisture-loving plants will grow over time in response to the surrounding environment, and can be viewed through windows into the sculpture. The artists are particularly interested in these tiny, often overlooked plants, drawing attention to their distinctive forms and important ecological role as bioindicators for air pollution and extractors of harmful chemicals effectively slowing climate change. The growth of moss and small plants throughout the lifetime of the sculpture will not only encourage people to engage with nature but also encourage wildlife to interact with the work; returning the technological, hard-edged sculpture to a softer, more organic and natural state.
Juneau Projects
Image credit: Greg Milner photography
About Juneau Projects
Juneau Projects are Philip Duckworth and Ben Sadler, two artists based in Birmingham. They have worked together for nearly twenty years, developing a practice that looks at the possibilities of artistic production through collaboration and participation.
They enjoy the surprises that come from working with people to develop ideas, designs, objects and experiences. They are interested in the perceived relationships and boundaries between the natural world and human civilisation and how this has altered over time. In tandem with this Juneau Projects are fascinated by the evolution of technology and its role as a lens through which to view the world.
Juneau Projects Say…
“Creativity is a fundamental impulse for humankind, and sculpture, in its widest form, is central to this – tools, instruments, statues, clothes etc all display people’s evolving relationship with materials and space.”
Feral Sculpture Workshop led by Juneau Projects
Image credit: Greg Milner photography
The Arts & Science Sculpture Commission is generously supported by the Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants.
Throw back to last week’s mini brief. Using After Effects, I have layered one of our images and a video from MADE Birmingham which I went to in the summer. I thought that this would be a good and an effective idea since a lot of people turn to drugs to have a good time at raves, parties, festivals, etc.
