Antony Gormley’s Event Horizon To Be Displayed In Hong Kong

Antony Gormley

Antony Gormley’s signature statues that the artist perches atop of buildings are soon to be installed in Hong Kong this November, the South China Morning Post reports, more than a year after their display was cancelled after a trader for global bank J. P. Morgan jumped to his death from a building in the city.

The 31 fibreglass and iron statues, called Event Horizon, were made from life-size body casts of the artist. The works were first shown in London in 2007, in various locations such as the top of the Southbank Centre and attracted the attention of daily commuters through the unexpected interruptions in the familiar urban skyline.

The series of self-modelled sculptures have also been seen in New York, Rotterdam and São Paulo. But a planned exhibition in Hong Kong in May 2014 was abruptly ended when the sponsor, the developer Hongkong Land, pulled its support after the suicide of the city trader. But on this occasion Hongkong Land will not participate in the installation.

According to the South China Morning Post, with other Central Hong Kong landlords expected to step in to host the works, including “some of Hong Kong’s most iconic public buildings”. The exact locations of the public art installations are due to be announced in September.

The artist’s works are increasingly popular among Asian collectors. Gormley, known for works including giant sculpture Angel of the North, displayed beside a motorway in the northeast, has been collected by M+, the future museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District. M+ announced last May that it had acquired the artist’s “Asian Field” after receiving a $1 million donation from an anonymous philanthropist.

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