Residencies
Aberrant Architecture Waterfront Connections Public Art Commission & Residency @ Mission Gallery
27 January - 31 August 2014
The Swansea Boulevard & Waterfront Connections Public Art Framework sets out an ambitious framework for a programme of engaging and relevant public art interventions along the 1.5 km Boulevard corridor and on the linkage to Meridian Quay. These works are suggested to encourage exploration of the City Centre, to emphasise key locations, and to help create memorable experiences of the City that people want to return to.
Addo were commissioned in December 2012 to review the Framework Document and develop and curate an initials series of public art commissions through the Framework, as part of the wider Boulevard Scheme.
This has resulted in a programme of 4 commissions being awarded to 4 artists, with one of the Wind Street Crossing Commission, being a part-time residency based at Mission Gallery. This will lead to a permanent external commission in the Wind Street Crossing area.
This commission has been awarded to Aberrant Architecture, a multi-disciplinary studio and think-tank that operates internationally in the fields of architecture, art, design and cultural analysis.
From their London Studio, they strive to capture the best of the past and the contemporary in order to shape the future of the designed world and have established a reputation for our playful, provocative and interactive projects that use architecture and design to introduce new and unexpected ways of experiencing the world, winning D&AD and Design Week awards for their work in 2012 and 2013.
In 2010 Aberrant were architecture residents at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and in the same year co-founded The Gopher Hole, a gallery/venue in London, which, through a public exhibition and talks programme, provides a platform for critical debate on the arts and society. In 2012 we were selected to exhibit in the British Pavilion at the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale.
The directors of aberrant architecture, David Chambers (originally from Swansea) and Kevin Haley, are committed to developing architectural culture through practice as well as through design research at educational institutions such as London Metropolitan University and Central St Martins. In response to being awarded the commission, David and Kevin have said:
“One hundred years after the birth of poet Dylan Thomas, Swansea’s most famous son, we are delighted to be designing a permanent public art piece at the heart of the city. But for better and for worse a city can develop a reputation for one or two things. Thus, from the outset, we are determined to show off other aspects of Wales’ second city”.
For further information about the Swansea Boulevardand Waterfront Connections Projects and Public Art Framework, please visit: http://www.swanseacitycentre.com/boulevard
The Swansea Boulevard & Waterfront Connections Public Art Commissions are being curated and managed by Addo on behalf of and in collaboration with the City & County of Swansea Council and are funded by the City & County of Swansea Council, the Arts Council of Wales, the Welsh Government and the European Regional Development Fund
