BLOCK II – by Antony Gormley

Antony Gormley’s “Being” exhibition opened at The Hall Art Foundation in Schloss Derneburg location in July 2017. His largest in Germany to date. The exhibition spans the British artist’s sculptural journey – with works on paper, large-scale installations and outdoor sculptures, from the early 1980s through to site-specific pieces created this year.

Located on the Schloss grounds is Block II (2017), a monumental outdoor sculpture which Webb Yates Engineers carried out the structural design and analysis for. This 46-tonne red granite blockwork is made of 22 pieces of monolithic Giallo Duna Granite that balance on top of each other using their own deadweight to obtain stability. In order to avoid permanent fixings between the blocks, Webb Yates Engineers worked closely with the artist and stonemasons, Ateliers Romeo, to fine tune the geometry of the blocks and judiciously introduce stone tenons and feet. Dry jointing the sculpture allows it to be demounted and reconstructed elsewhere, while also satisfying the team that the structure is resolved using only the properties of the stone and geometry of the sculpture.

The piece was conceived as ‘a meditation on the current and temporary state of humankind embedded in the city, brooding about its future.’

Being will run at The Hall Art Foundation from 1 July – 26 November 2017.

More details: Antony Gormley Exhibition

Artist: Antony Gormley
Stone masonry: Ateliers Romeo

Engineers : Webb Yates