Barbara Gilhooly "Hanging Wire Orbs" installation, 2008. Detail of a 13 piece installation. Overall dimensions 14' x 6' x 2'.
Contemporary Portuguese artist David Oliveira creates sculptures (above and below) from wire which have guided my thinking on a number of collaborative installation possibilities for shared school spaces. Oliveira uses this common, inexpensive material to create visually arresting works of great warmth and humanity. In 2019 he was commissioned to install wire sculptures at Glasgow train stations in a project called “Now You See Me” aimed at raising awareness of youth homelessness. Of these works he says:
“I wanted to create three-dimensional sketches of hidden homeless young people by “drawing” semi-visible human figures in wire. Inspired by traditional drawing techniques, I used the wire as a line moving through three-dimensional space, to create outlines. I chose this design solution because of its ability to express vulnerability and invisibility; both of which are important themes for hidden homeless young people. I chose to work with wire because it’s urbane, malleable and strong. The empty spaces between the wire add an ethereal quality and communicate the fact that the body isn’t fully visible.” (2019, Dalziel).
Oliveira’s work illustrates the aesthetic and conceptual possibilities of temporary wire art installations in school spaces. Some of his works are figurative and others represent words such as the film-still below taken from a Youtube video created by the artist describing why he works with wire. Along with creating meanings, stopping-time, and experiencing a ‘brain massage’, the artist notes that he draws with wire to create beauty.
Gavin Worth's "The Egyptian Sibyl" (below) is 20 feet in length. It is mounted on a rooftop in Cairo, Egypt. The artist worked with a group of students at the America International School Egypt to construct the piece over a 3-month period in the spring of 2014 by bending over 100 steel rods by hand. The work is inspired by sibyls of the Sistine Chapel.
Dalziel, Magdalene. (2019, April 2). Youth homeless project brings emotive ‘invisible’ sculptures to Glasgow central train station. Glasgow News. https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/youth-homeless-project-brings-emotive-16061199
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