Work on the installation of five new pieces of art is underway at Horizon 120.
Horizon 120 is the new business, innovation and logistics park, currently under development, just off of the A131 in Great Notley, Braintree.
The art pieces include a pair of monumental pearlescent eggs, a digital screen with videos connecting to astronomy and two vertical sculptures symbolic of the sun and a cloud.
The new pieces are from artists Yukako Shibata, DCSK with Marman and Borins and Turner Prize nominee Mark Titchner.
The artists worked with a local primary school and spoke to the neighbouring country park and local cultural organisations to develop their ideas and pieces.
Mark and Yukako ran four creative workshops over a two week period with students from Notley Green Primary school. The children cast and painted their own eggs and experimented with printing techniques using natural objects.
The artworks celebrate nature, innovation and technology.
Yukako Shibata’s pearlescent eggs sit opposite and across the pond from each other in the habitat area next to the country park. The hand-painted eggs symbolise life and are an ode to the abundant wildlife in the local area and beyond.
Mark Titchner’s piece is a large digital screen with videos which feature words and imagery connecting to the astronomical and mythical origins of day names. The videos follow a set sequence involving a greeting, short philosophical question and corresponding meaningful statement.
The sculptures situated on the roundabouts represent the sun and a cloud. As drivers pass the vertical and linear elements of the sun, the colours transition from red to blue to green to yellow. The vertical elements for the cloud are in contrast dispersed and random. DCSK with Marman and Borins explain that the sun symbolises new beginnings and the pieces together represent nature and technology in balance.
Braintree District Council worked with curators Niamh White and Tim Shaw to commission the pieces.
Curator Niamh White said: “It has been wonderful to work with these artists over the past year to bring these extraordinary artworks to life and particularly memorable to work with the children at Notley Green Primary School. We hope that people will have surprising, joyful and inspiring encounters with them for a long time to come.”
Cllr Kevin Bowers, Cabinet Member for Assets, Housing and Skills at Braintree District Council, said: “The new installations are impressive in both scale and form and create opportunities for people to stop and pause and make a connection with the art. I’m especially pleased that the artists worked with the local community to develop their ideas and pieces. The displays are striking and very original.”
