How exactly did Anish Kapoor manage to build Dismemberment Site 1? This question is part of the appeal and fascination of the huge sculpture, and our documentary short film “New Form at the Farm” helps to explore the process of conceptualization and creation.
Kapoor and Gibbs worked closely with engineers and architects who could take their dramatic ideas and make them material. Kapoor’s frequent collaborator, Cecil Balmond, is himself an exhibited artist, and is well known for his collaborative work on large sculpture and sculptural architecture projects. In fact, after Marsyas and Dismemberment Site 1, the two won a bid to build the permanent sculptural aspect of London’s 2012 Olympic Park: the result, an interactive, massive (tallest sculpture in the UK), and intriguing sculpture called the ArcelorMittal Orbit. Balmond, educated in Sri Lanka and the UK, worked with reknowned engineering, architecture, and design group Ove Arup Group for many years before moving away to form his own Studio, based in London and Columbo. His work combines geometrical concepts of spatial organization and natural occurrences such as fractals, with high-level architectural design. In fact, while with Arup he founded the Advanced Geometry Unit, dedicated to research and design. Certainly having a brilliant designer and engineer on his side like Balmond has helped Kapoor to develop and realize his visions. In fact, huge sculpture of this kind almost always requires the work of engineers. As the engineer interviewed in “New Form at the Farm” explained, there’s not much practical structural difference between a car park and Kapoor’s sculpture. But as we know, the results are wildly different!
"New Form at the Farm: Anish Kapoor's Dismemberment Site 1" screens twice at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem MA on Saturday, February 2nd, 2013. The first screening is at 11am and the second screening at 2:30pm. The screenings are FREE and open to the public. Please join us.
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