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Square the Block

At the corner of Kingsway and Sardinia Street, at the London School of Economics in central London, this work, commissioned by Contemporary Art Society, reinforces the key role that public sculpture can play in revitalizing the urban environment by engaging metropolitan audiences through the use of innovative site-specific sculpture located in highly visible public spaces. The work stands on a vertically manufactured corner of a building located in a space offset marginally from the chamfered end wall of the junction. Square the Block is a spectacular outdoor sculpture that both mimics and subtly subverts the existing façades of the building. The sculpture’s two edges were copied from two chosen vertical areas on the existing building’s two sides. However, when placed together they made no architectural and functional sense other than matching the cornice work and completing the corner, thereby challenging the logic of the overall architectural design. Just as the base section appears compressed and twisted, as if shunted upwards to free up the walkway, so the work playfully challenges any easy comprehension of the overall design harmony. (See:

http://www.richardwilsonsculptor.com/projects/square%20the%20block.html / http://www2.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2009/09/RichardWilson.aspx)

Square the Block received wide and varied press coverage, including:

Architects Journal: http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/first-look-richard-wilsons-new-twist-for-the-lse/5201327.article

Contemporary Art Society: http://www.contemporaryartsociety.org/news/article/lse-unveils-new-richard-wilson-sculpture-square-the-block

Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/42ab889c-a215-11de-81a6 00144feabdc0.html#axzz2My6oLIY3

Blue Print Magazine: http://www.blueprintmagazine.co.uk/index.php/architecture/richard-wilsons-deceptive-architecture/