HALO
Jennifer Turpin and Michaelie Crawford
HALO Jennifer Turpin and Michaelie Crawford Turning and tilting with the energy of the wind, Halo hovers in finely tuned counterbalance. The 12 metre diameter tapered yellow ring pivots off-centre atop a 13 metre high tilted silver mast. Though large in size it appears weightless and whilst apparently precarious it is perfectly balanced. The entire weight of the carbon fibre ring and arm rests on a ceramic bearing the size of a small marble. Halo’s otherworldly presence and uncanny motion play with perception to suspend disbelief. Floating overhead, ring and arm appear at once connected and disconnected. Perspectival distance doubles back on itself as Halo’s eccentric undulating revolutions mesmerize and intrigue. Collaborating with nature, Halo responds to winds of the moment. Gentle breezes set its slow, off-centred rotations in motion, whilst gusts and eddies tip it off the horizontal to pitch and roll. Stronger winds quicken the rotations and increase the arc of tilt until Halo self dampens and is progressively braked in more extreme weather events. Inspired by the history of the site itself, Halo draws upon the language and processes of the old brewery. Giant, circular brewing-vat support structures combine with the endless stirrings of brewing alchemy and the tipsy effects of beer to inspire sculptural form and fluid motion. At the heart of Central Park’s public domain near the cross roads of Balfour Street’s north-south and Irving Street’s east-west axis, Halo stands between the heritage, the contemporary and the building-in-progress. Halo’s floating encircling motion draws us inward and gestures outward to the space and energy of the environment beyond.
CENTRAL PARK ART High calibre public art is intrinsic to the creative character of Central Park’s environment and its engagement with the broader community. It is a core component of Central Park’s vision for a world-class urban village that celebrates leading talents in the arts, architecture, design and technology. Frasers Property Australia and Sekisui House Australia’s $8 million public art program seeks to deliver enduring value through the commissioning of permanent and temporary site-specific works by leading Australian and international artists, as well as such innovative programs as FraserStudios’ visual and performing artists residencies. Halo joins the highly regarded Artists In Residence temporary art project curated by Turpin+Crawford Studio and renowned curator Anne Loxley. Nominated for the prestigious ‘Alice Awards’, Artists In Residence comprises site-specific artworks by Brook Andrew, Mikala Dwyer and Caroline Rothwell on the Irving Street Brewery building. Ambitious, architecturally integrated works by celebrated French artists Patrick Blanc and Yann Kersale will envelope and illuminate One Central Park with vast vegetal walls and a dramatically cantilevered animated LED heliostat. At ground level, Danish landscape architect Jeppe Aagaard Andersen and Turf Design Studio have created a shimmering water axis for Chippendale Green. Together with Halo, these environmentally responsive art and design installations harness and celebrate the natural energies of wind, water, light and growth. Turpin+Crawford Studio’s Public Art Strategy for Central Park envisions the current construction period as a dynamic transformation from the old brewery as a closed ‘city within a city’ to an increasingly open, sustainable and inter-connected precinct. As the high walls and hoardings gradually come down, they will open to innovative contemporary architecture and design and the progressive installation of engaging temporary and permanent site-responsive artworks.
The entire weight of the carbon fibre ring and arm rests on a ceramic bearing the size of a small marble.
HALO TEAM Halo was realised through the close collaboration of the artists working with a team of specialist engineers, designers and fabricators under the direction of Jeremy Sparks, a director of Partridge Event. Artists: Turpin+Crawford Studio, Jennifer Turpin and Michaelie Crawford Delivery: Partridge Event Partridge Director and Project Manager – Jeremy Sparks Partridge Industrial Design and CAD Model Contractor – Konrad Hartmann Partridge Structural Engineers – Harry Partridge, Morgan Sheehy, Kirsten Lewis Partridge Mechanical Engineer – Arran Gordon Partridge Project Coordinator – Reinaldo Tucki Wind Engineering – CPP Wind Engineering, Dr Graeme Wood and Peter Bourke Carbon Engineering – SP-High Modulus Gurit, Valerio Corniani, Thomas Basset Lighting Engineering – Vision Design, Donn Salisbury and Ryan Shamier Colour and Paint Consultant Contractor – Martin Bruveris Mechanical, Structural and Destructive Testing – SPFX Australia, Rodney Bourke Head Contractor, Innovation Composites – Mark Rowed Mould, MouldCAM – Toby Whitfield Structural Steel Contractors – BML Steel, Brett Laker Q.A.Engineering, Geoff Fountain Paint Contractor – Masada Paint and Panel, Theo Katris Carbon Fibre, Mechanical, Structural Engineering & Tender Peer Reviews – Trisdek, Matrix, Dovell Naval Architects Photography and Videography: Ian Hobbs Media
As much an invention as an artwork, Halo is a dynamic marriage between art, environment, science and engineering.
Jennifer Turpin and Michaelie Crawford Artists Jennifer Turpin and Michaelie Crawford work collaboratively to produce award-winning permanent and temporary artworks for the public domain. Their sculptural installations are a poetic and dynamic response to the specificity of the sites they inhabit. Working with nature’s elemental energies, their kinetic installations engage water, wind and light as sculptural media to create rhythmic, responsive and transformative ‘performances’ in the everyday life of the city. Partridge Event For three decades Partridge Event has worked with leading Australian and international artists, designers and architects to design and engineer creative, bold and innovative structures. Through the targeted application of their extensive engineering and project management skills they have brought thousands of imaginative concepts to reality. Frasers Property, Sekisui House and the City of Sydney Halo was commissioned by the developers of Central Park, Frasers Property Australia and Sekisui House Australia, in collaboration with the City of Sydney. Both Frasers Property and Sekisui House are global companies committed to the development of sustainable communities and intelligent cultural placemaking – as is clearly evident at Central Park. Halo has been donated to the City of Sydney as part of its City Art Collection.
For further information go to: www.cityartsydney.com www.turpincrawford.com www.centralparksydney.com Facebook: Central Park Sydney Twitter: #halocentralpark HALO comes to life in this documentary by Ian Hobbs Scan here to view or visit cpsydney on YouTube. All images by Ian Hobbs Media (except where otherwise indicated)
Former brewing vat support structure. Photo by Martin van der Wal.