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For this project we were asked to use some of the reclaimed materials from the old church to create an artwork for the foyer of the new building. There was timber from the old ceiling, windows with different coloured glass panels, and some of the pipes from the old pipe organ that hadn’t been re-homed to repair other organs around Adelaide. We were dedicated that we were going to use all three materials in the artwork.
In thinking about the new building and it’s mulit-use function we wanted to make an artwork that spoke about the buildings inhabitants and surroundings, about cross-sections of community and different ways of seeing. We wanted to use repeated units to represent the many parts making up the whole.
These remnant materials from the old church have imbued value. They are a visceral link to the past building and we wanted to showcase them. We love that when old timbers are cut they show the life that has come before. The organ pipes barely recognizable now have a new role to play. And the coloured glass taken out of the window frames has now taken on a totally new form.
The mirrors give us different viewpoints at an untouchable distance. We can use them to extend site lines and confuse perspectives and help us change the way we see what’s around us and ourselves.
We want the artwork to be a bit playful with a bit of a construction-like feel. Somewhat light-hearted shapes that invite engagement and have a feeling of exploration and the unknown. The refined scaffolding style armature holds the units that are shaped to perform the functions we required of them.
‘Ways of Seeing’ is a playful intervention and exploration using a combination of old and new, and the magic of mirrors and the imagination.
This sculpture can be found in the foyer of the new Uniting Communities building on Franklin Street in Adelaide.
Photography by Craig Arnold of She Creative