Rotunda, 2017
National Trust
Folly! 2018
Fountains Abbey Studley Royal, Yorkshire, UK
My proposal for the Rotunda is to re-create the circular ionic temple as an interpretation of a contemporary ruin. This architectural sculpture would retain some of the characteristics of the original folly including the circular base and eight columns, but the structure would be without its domed roof. The columns would vary in height and width as if they were a kind of living form. Two of the columns are slightly inverted creating circular concavities into the base of the sculpture.
The sculpture’s surfaces are tiled in vitreous glass mosaics with a variety of shades of green. The colour choices refer to the shifting colours and textures in the aesthetic planting schemes of the Studley Royal Water Gardens. The tiled surfaces conjure associations with public spaces, inviting visitors to engage with the sculpture as a place to sit, relax, and contemplate this lost folly.
The sculpture will also have clusters of sculptural forms encrusting some of the tiled surfaces. These sculptural forms will be rendered in pebble-dashing stones evoking both an architectural contagion and very slow mineral growth. The purpose of these sculptural forms is to make the piece feel as if it growing or forming and has been doing so for unimaginable lengths of time.