A whispering wall sculpture designed by Perth architects working overseas has received a $30,000 sculpture award.
Designed from a distance by architects Georgia Taylor-Berry and Jesse Taylor, Interacting Fences was installed at Cottesloe Beach in Perth as part of the Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe exhibition.
It received the inaugural Sculpture by the Sea Artists Award from the Minderoo Foundation.
The sculpture is inspired by social distancing practices as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its two curving “fences” create a whispering wall effect.
“Users sit at either end of the fence, physically distant, but audibly close, as the arc bounces sound from one end of the sculpture to the other,” said Georgia Taylor-Berry. “As designers it’s important to focus on how we can bring people together, safely, especially during these times.”
Jesse Taylor added that the sculpture is not a COVID response but it also represents the demarcation of land and ownership through fences.
“We’re looking at ways to increase human connection in a culture that continues to grow divided through its focus on ownership and privatization,” he said.
“We must re-think the intention of our society and its prioritization of ownership over human connection. Interacting Fences translates the familiar and divisive fence into a mechanism of unification and shared experience.”
The architects were both educated in Perth but are now based overseas. Georgia Taylor-Berry has lived in Amsterdam for the past four years working with Paul de Ruiter Architects and Jesse Taylor runs his own studio, Social Works, in Los Angeles.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
