University News Last updated 21 February 2022
Award-winning British artist Holly Hendry has been commissioned by Birmingham City University to create a new public artwork to celebrate Birmingham as a place of innovation.
This £50,000 project will see the installation of a unique public artwork and mark the latest phase in the £70 million regeneration of historic city building that will be the new home of the University’s STEAMhouse project.
Digbeth-based arts organisation Eastside Projects has worked closely with the University to select the artist playing a key role as curator of the project.
The artwork will reflect the key principles of STEAMhouse - exploration, collaboration, conversation, openness, and newness.
Hendry’s plans have now been unveiled for a 10-foot tall sculpture made from steel, aluminium, plastic and Jesmonite. The sculpture’s looped form and design details nod to the industrial vernacular of jacquard looms, analogue assembly lines and printing presses that have been features of Birmingham’s industrial past.
The surface design of the artwork features bodily shapes co-developed with pupils from Chandos Primary School in Highgate and Birmingham City University students through a series of ‘exquisite corpse’ drawing and collage workshops.
The sculpture will be produced through a variety of artistic and industrial techniques ranging from welding, laser cutting and painting. By transforming mild steel so it appears fluid and in tension, like a rubber belt, Hendry says she “hopes to play with audiences' expectations of the material properties of metal, presenting its malleability usually only glimpsed during the fabrication process.”
The sculpture will be situated outside of the 122-year-old Belmont Works site in the Eastside of Birmingham, which is currently undergoing a transformation into the new home for the University’s STEAMhouse project.
Set to open later this year, the building will serve as a base for artists, academics and technical specialists to collaborate on new ideas, become the new site for the University’s School of Computing and Digital Technology and provide opportunities for students from across the institution to work with businesses.
Once installed the artwork will pay homage to Belmont Works’ history as the former Eccles Rubber and Cycle Company Headquarters as well as its future use as a centre for collaborative innovation.
Professor Julian Beer, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Birmingham City University, said: “Birmingham’s role in the Industrial Revolution is something the city is rightly proud of and marks it out as a place of invention, creativity and ingenuity.
“We wanted to truly celebrate this by installing a piece of public art that commemorates not just the city’s history, but that of the historic and iconic Belmont Works.
“Holly Hendry’s vision really brought to life what we wanted to celebrate, and her work truly embodies the creativity and invention which STEAMhouse is all about.”
Holly Hendry’s work has been exhibited across the UK and internationally in places like The Liverpool Biennial, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. Last year she presented 'Invertebrate' a composite form that wormed its way around the outside of De La Warr Pavilion, a major outdoor commission made in collaboration with England’s Creative Coast and part of the Waterfronts Commissions. She currently has a solo exhibition at Stephen Friedman Gallery in London.
The artwork launch will coincide with the opening of the new STEAMhouse building later this year with a public talk by the artist. Speaking about the project Holly Hendry said: “I feel very grateful and excited to be appointed for this commission.
"It is important to see the prioritisation of inclusive spaces within the city, centring creative, practical thinking and technical exploration together.
"These principles of collaboration, conversation and openness are something that I hope the artwork embodies in the same way that the building does, and I feel honoured that it can become part of the city too."
The project was drawn up to highlight STEAMhouse and the University’s wider expertise in the practice of STEAM which aims to place the arts at the heart of the traditional technical subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.