Twins
| Browse information by: 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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