Output details

Corral - A site-specific sculpture

Hutchinson was commissioned to produce a large-scale sculpture combining both function and form. Building on previous research, the aim was to subvert the accepted sculptural process in favour of a pure design concept, allowing functionality to be found rather than occupying a central position from the start. ‘Corral’ draws on traditions of applied art and craft, at the same time it wishes to extend it’s meaning within a contemporary, Duchampian discourse, when its identity and formal character is altered by the everyday addition of bicycles. The work is an examination of a classic modernist sculptural language set within a context of straightforward functionality. The method employed was the use of a three dimensional design software to locate the process of design within the immaterial space of the computer, allowing options for the realisation of the final form to be derived from a dialogue, free from the usual restrictions of object and materiality, as is usual in the standard sculptural process.

The resulting object was a 4m x 3m x 3m brushed stainless steel work, called 'Corral' (referencing the archetypal ‘Western’). 'Corral' is primarily a fusion; part abstract sculpture, part functional bike rack. Corral was developed through a commissioning process involving Northern Print, Commissions North (Arts Council England Public Art Commissioning programme), Priority Sites and Chipchase Architects, with a budget of £6000, and is a site-specific work located outside the Media Exchange in the Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle upon Tyne.