Halo by Turpin + Crawford

August 14th, 2012

“It’s as much an invention as it is an artwork,” ponders artist Jennifer Turpin.

Halo, a $1.3M public art commission for the new Central Park development in inner Sydney, was this week unveiled by Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP.

The gargantuan – twelve metre in diameter – kinetic sculpture that is equal parts engineering and art, is a study in counterbalance and gravity, created by public artists Jennifer Turpin and Michaelie Crawford.

Where the application of industry and science has brought this piece to fruition, the beauty in its execution is that art unites with nature to ’function’ – rotating, tilting and turning in response to the wind, engaging the observer and the environment they are both a part of.

A contemporary wind vane, of sorts, Halo is part of the broader redevelopment of the old Carlton United brewer’s site in Chippendale, on the CBD’s southern boundary.

Citing the industrial setting and the site’s historical backdrop as a muse, Michaelie Crawford explains how the concept developed:

“The inspiration for Halo came from the history and industrial forms of the old brewery combined with a dynamic response to the natural and built environment of the new precinct.”

“The beautiful circular supports for the enormous old brewing vats inspired Halo’s circular form. A desire to reference the tipsy effects of beer resulted in the ring’s precarious balance and off-centred tipping and turning,” Says Michaelie Crawford.

Located in Chippendale Green – a civic reserve around which Jean Nouvel and PTW’s One Central Park towers will rise – the installation is a part of the broader public art initiative by developers Frasers Property and Sekisui House.

Beyond the temporary works that have responded to the site throughout the lengthy construction process, permanent pieces like this one will adorn the mixed-used high-rise precinct when in use.

French artist and botanist Patrick Blanc has designed organic artworks for the facade of One Central Park, and lighting designer Yann Kersale has orchestrated a sparkling artwork using over 3000 LED lights which will be suspended from One Central Park, 110 metres above the ground.