New public artworks by Rhona Byrne, Katie Schwab and Tania Kovats will transform University of Southampton’s North East Quadrant development.
The University of Southampton, in partnership with UP Projects, John Hansard Gallery and Turner Sims, announces a series of major public art commissions for the North East Quadrant (NEQ) development at the University’s Highfield Campus. Titled Building 75, it will provide a cutting-edge new teaching and learning environment. The new commissions will embed art into the everyday life of the campus, creating spaces for reflection and exchange among students, staff and surrounding communities.
There are three public art commissions that expand on the principles of the public art strategy, The Welcoming Campus: Art, People and Nature in Dialogue written by UP Projects: The Welcoming Campus, Play the Campus, and Art + Nature. The artists selected are Dublin-based Rhona Byrne, whose socially engaged practice explores the dynamics of space and participation; Glasgow-based Katie Schwab, whose work draws on histories of craft, learning and material culture; and Devon-based Tania Kovats, whose sculptures mediate our relationship with the natural world. Kovats was selected for the Art + Nature commission following a shortlist of artists invited to develop proposals. The shortlist of artists also included London-based Shiraz Bayjoo and Yorkshire-based Invisible Flock.
The Welcoming Campus commission by Rhona Byrne includes two artworks at two key entry points to the NEQ site exploring what it means to arrive, belong and be welcome. Play the Campus commission by Katie Schwab involves interactive artworks encouraging playful participation and movement around the site. Art + Nature commission by Tania Kovats will be a sculptural response exploring dialogue between art, people and nature. The commissions will deliver the vision for an inclusive, accessible campus, with artists encouraged to collaborate with students, academics and local residents throughout the process.
Commissions are guided by The Welcoming Campus: Art, People and Nature in Dialogue, the public art strategy, which positions art as a central part of how NEQ will be experienced. The public artworks will welcome, challenge and connect, encouraging dialogue between people, place and nature. The project builds on the university’s historic and ongoing relationship with sculpture, with new artworks joining existing pieces by Barbara Hepworth and Conrad Shawcross, among others.
Full Press Release can be downloaded here (PDF).
