The Economist Plaza
25 St. James's Street
nearest tube: Green Park or Piccadilly Circus
SW1A 1HG
London
United Kingdom
Europe
p: +44 020 7831 1243
m:
f:
w: www.contempart.org.uk
THE ECONOMIST presented by contemporary art society
The Economist Building provides the only outdoor public exhibition space in Central London committed to a continuous programme of sculptural works by contemporary artists.
The Contemporary Art Society has been commissioning a regular programme of outdoor sculptural works for the Economist Plaza for over a decade. Programming is designed to reflect the widest possible range of responses to the site, as well as to represent different trends and practices in current art. The programme consists of five to six commissions per year and are intended to showcase the work of young and emergent artists, reflecting the Contemporary Art Society’s expertise in identifying promise and The Economist’s reputation for being ‘ahead of the curve’. The Economist/Contemporary Art Society commissioning programme represents a unique and cutting edge approach to corporate support for the visual arts – a living collection.
Tom Wilkinson Light Wave
Friday 12 December 2008 - Friday 6 February 2009 Private View: Thursday 11 December 2008, 18.30— 20.30
Drawing inspiration from astronomy and metaphysics, and reflecting the constant cyclical and kinetic patterns of energy that are universally present in our surroundings, Tom Wilkinson’s kinetic sculptures investigate the ambiguous nature of matter, recognising that physical objects are made of particles in motion with vast gaps of nothingness within their atoms.
Light Wave is a slow-moving mechanical sculpture comprising ninety five rods of glass, rocked by a helical cam shaft in a reciprocating motion. The wave that ripples across the glass of Light Wave is a true sine-wave. Gravity and kinetic energy engage in a state of equilibrium enabling the ‘blades’ of glass, weighing almost half a ton, to be set in motion by a small motor, the equivalent of a single domestic light bulb.
