ST. KILDA

2024 (started 2022)

FOR SALE. Welded corten steel and marine grade stainless steel. Underwater mechanism includes stainless steel, bronze and galvanized cast iron counterweights.

21’ (6.4M) diameter in rotation.

Photographs by Alister Thorpe

Film by Tom Wade

This 4 - 5 thousand hour creation, made over 25 months is my debut into floating kinetic wind powered sculpture.  

The central island-like mass of St. Kilda floats on water and her three outstretched ‘sails' catch the wind, causing her to spin. The geometric shapes overlap before your eyes, and the shadows and light play across the different facets. In gusty conditions, the great bulk of the sculpture pitches and rolls, her outstretched ‘arms’ terminating with knife-like 'sail tips’ which slice through the water with eloquent precision. The severity of pitching and rolling, as well as the speed of rotation mirrors the changing wind, making St. Kilda a mercurial beast, composed and serene in good weather, lively and playful in a healthy wind, or roguish in a storm. Her ‘stormy’ moods might be best enjoyed from the comfort of a nearby building, in the way that it feels intensely cozy to look through a window, out at the raging sea. Her breadth of ‘personality’ makes St. Kilda a delight to watch across all weathers, even on a day with no perceptible wind, she glides round, albeit extremely slowly, her sail tips reflected in the surface of the water, tantalisingly close.  

Marrying free artistic expression with ‘Brunellian’ engineering (without compromise to either party) is a very tall order. They are like oil and water, the two disciplines generally belonging to separate brains. Given the rarity of a successful emulsion, I believe St. Kilda to be an extremely unusual beast, most definitely having pushed my own boundaries (sometimes to the limit) and hopefully the boundaries of sculpture itself. Much like an iceberg, there is a lot hidden underwater, the self invented mechanism which keeps St. Kilda simultaneously anchored reliably, yet free, is built with an emphasis on longevity.  

The sculpture could be installed in an existing lake or pond. Alternatively I could dig one, or improvise some exciting and alternative body of water.