The spectacular sculpture H_Edge is being exhibited in the UK for the first time, following the public attention garnered from its appearance at the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence. The work is displayed as part of the ongoing Bishop’s Square public sculpture programme curated by Dickson Russell, H_Edge now appears in a bespoke configuration in the reflecting pool opposite the Allen & Overy building in Spitalfields, London.
The work offers a unique view of Cecil Balmond’s world of diverse shapes and forms. By day H_Edge echoes its environment in an expansive reverberation of light and colour. By night, illumination transforms the same location into an otherworldly place; its complexity creating a chiaroscuro effect against the surrounding darkness. H_Edge is assembled using thousands of ‘x’-shaped aluminium plates which are held, one above the other, in tension by stainless steel chains. Blurring the boundaries between art and structure, layers of silver planes form an ethereal, metallic, installation that visitors are free to walk around, within and through. For Balmond, H_Edge is more than an art installation, ‘Conceived from a deep inner logic, H_Edge embodies concepts of nothing and everything; infinity and zero, creating a powerful experience that resonates with our primal affinity with space and form,’ he explains. Constructed by Balmond Studio’s in-house team of specialists, H_Edge generates a new dimension within the city; a non-space; for contemplation and reflection.
Having lived in London for over 40 years, Balmond has a close affinity with the city, and the placement of H_Edge in Spitalfields holds a special significance for him, ‘H_Edge has been in many countries in different shapes but it thrills me to have the installation in my home town, London!’ H_Edge will be on display until 20th October 2014.
Cecil Balmond is widely considered to be one of the most significant creators of his generation. He is currently Principal of Balmond Studio with offices in London, Colombo and Hong Kong. His light sculpture Snow Words, commissioned by the State of Alaska Arts Council, was named one of the best public artworks of 2012 by the Americans for the Arts, Public Art Network Year in Review. New public art projects include commissions for the Chicago Transit Authority and MESA Art Center, Arizona. Ongoing architecture projects include a £400m mixed-use development in Asia, and a radical proposition for a new kind of modular housing unit. Balmond holds the Paul Philippe Cret Chair at Penn Design at the University of Pennsylvania as Professor of Architecture and is Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Engineering Designers and the Royal Institute of British Architects. He has been honoured with many awards including the Gengo Matsui prize for engineering, RIBA Charles Jencks award for Theory in Practice and the Sir Banister Fletcher Prize for the best book in architecture with his publication informal. Balmond published Crossover, his highly anticipated follow-up to informal, in October 2013. H_Edge has been exhibited at Artists Space, New York, Graham Foundation of Fine Art, Chicago, Carnegie Museum of Fine Art, Pittsburgh, USA, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Japan, Spazio e Luce Targetti + Louis Poulsen Showroom, Milan; and, most recently, at the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Florence, Italy.