urban mirror

Public Sculpture

Client: Cork City Council

Dates: September 2022 – Current

Category: Sculpture/Artwork

Fabrictors: Spaceforms 

How do we strengthen public spirit and community? This question lies at the heart of this proposal for a new artwork for Coal Quay, and as such presents public art as a result of the sustained everyday engagement of citizens with public space. 

Sited at the hinge point in the centre of the square stands an immense, free-form table, held in place by an oversized“pin” with a coloured globe of light at its top. With the capacity to seat over 50 people, the table is seen as a civic space, inviting those present in the square to pause, to rest, or to actively take part in the theatre of everyday life that is inherent to successful public space in the centre of Cork city. 

The proposal takes the coloured facades and intimate scale of Coal Quay as its starting point and reinterprets the square as a room without a roof. The table with its “pin”- much like an acupuncture point- seeks to create a simple yet powerful pair of objects with which to focus and amplify the characteristics of Coal Quay. With obvious reference to the Saturday market and Cork’s reputation for excellence in food and dining, the artwork celebrates the act of coming together to share food. Perhaps more importantly, the scale of the table references the square’s vibrant history as a market place and reinterprets this as a space of discussion and debate, literally creating space at the table for citizens to engage with their city. 

The table and pin use simplified forms to achieve their purposes; the table surface and legs are made from stainless steel, the pin from tubular stainless steel with a 1,5m diameter coloured fibre-glass globe. The colour and scale of the globe creates a desire line when viewed from the extreme edges of the square, and holds the space of the table in stead of a roof when viewed up close. At night, especially in rain, the coloured light from the globe defines the space of the table, while the reflective surface of the table bounces the light upwards as a coloured, shimmering surface. During the day, the table mirrors the sky, creating a pool of light within the square.