Object Details

Twins

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Location
Makers
General Information
Classification
Object Parts
Object Condition
History
References
Photographs


Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright for Photograph:

Creative Commons

Location

Street:Western Road
Town:Brighton
Parish:Brighton
Council:Brighton & Hove City Council
County:East Sussex
Postcode:BN1
Location on Google Map
Object setting:Outside building
and in:Road or Wayside
Access is:Public
Location note:In front of Churchill Square Shopping Centre
In the AZ book:East Sussex
Page:162
Grid reference:C7
The A-Z books used are A-Z East Sussex and A-Z West Sussex (Editions 1A 2005). Geographers' A-Z Map Company Ltd. Sevenoaks.

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Makers

Name : Charlie Hooker
     Role:Sculptor
Company/Group :Capital Marble, London
Company/Group :Greek Marble, London

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General Information

Commissioned by: Standard Life Investments (owners of Churchill Square Shopping Centre)
Construction period:1998
Installation date:1998
Unveiling date:02/09/1998
Work is:Extant
Owner custodian:Standard Life Investments
Object listing:Not listed
Description:The granite is of four colours: Imperial Green - representing Spring Golden Summer - representing Summer Imperial Red - representing Autumn Bethel White - representing Winter The granite for the plinth is standard grey The distance between each plinth in five metres - this distance is mathematically important as, when the lights are on in the evening, the two beams meet in the middle. The overall span of the structure is therefore 10 minutes.
Signatures:Charlie Hooker 1998
Inscription:
TWINS
This sculpture uses solar energy to change
the volume levels of the sounds which
emanate from it. As the sun moves across
the sky it shines on different surfaces of the
sculpture, triggering music from two internal
sound systems. A surface is quiet when in
shadow and louder when in bright sunlight.

Each bronze panel shows a graph on which
the sunshine recordings made at Churchill
Square during the 1997-98 building works.
(Similar recordings are taken daily by
weather forecasters across the world

The graphs have been digitally translated
into music to produce twelve sound pieces,
one for each month of the year.

Each graph charts the sun's trajectory
during the various seasons and the types of
granite used in the sculpture represent the
four seasons. Autumn and Winter form one
'twin', Spring and Summer the other.

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Classification

Categories:Sculptural, Free Standing, Composite, Abstract
Object type1:Sculpture
Subject type1:Symbolic
Subject type2:Non-figurative
     Subject subtype1:Group

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Object Parts

Part 1:Orbs
     Material:None
     Height (cm):200
     Width (cm):200
     Depth (cm):200
Part 2:Plinths and step seats
     Material:None
     Height (cm):200
     Width (cm):250
     Depth (cm):250

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Object Condition

Overall condition:Good
Risk assessment:No known risk
Condition 1 of type:Vandalism
     Condition 1: Graffiti
     More details:Some minor graffiti to both 'twins'.
Date of on-site inspection:28/06/2007

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History

History:It is a site-specific work which uses the passage of the sun across the sky to trigger sounds which emanate from the sculpture. On the sculptures are sensors which sense sunlight as it hits each part of the sculpture to trigger sound. It fades up from silence in the morning as the sun comes up, then fades out again as the sun goes down. The sounds change according to the seasons. The whole idea of the piece was to record sounds around Brighton for the year prior to the work being completed. They are stored electronically in circuits inside the sculpture and are triggered as the sun comes out, and keep playing. It links to different sounds you hear during the seasons, like autumn storms, and people playing on the beach in the summer.
Material: granite, glass, bronze and audio-electronics
Technique: digital audio recording, solar power technology. Etched bronze, carved and polished granite, cut and polished glass.
Date: 1998
Rights owner: Standard Life Insurance Company - owners of the work. However, it is a public work.
Notes: The work was commissioned by Standard Life. It is an interactive work - people have to go up to it and be close to it to hear. The idea of it is that as you are walking past Churchill Square you hear sounds which draw you in to it. You can sit on the plinth and spend some time there listening to the sounds - it is interactive in that sense. The images on the etched bronze plaques which form the surfaces are derived from weather patterns recorded during the year the sculpture was being made. These weather patterns from the Meteorological Office weather graphs were scanned into a computer. The sounds you hear coming out of the sculpture are a mixture of sample sounds recorded around Brighton affected by computer technology governed by these graphs.
(http://fineart.ac.uk/works/bt0001_1/)

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References


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Photographs





Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons

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