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Last Updated 29 June 2018
M@The 2018 Sculpture In The City Is The Best Yet
Now in its eighth year, Sculpture in the City is maturing into one of the most anticipated events in the arts calendar. For novices, the format is simple. More than a dozen works of art, by well-known artists, are installed across the Square Mile, where they remain all summer.
This year's crop feels fresher and more adventurous than ever. Big name artists such as Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas and Marina Abramović all provide exciting pieces, which this year include sound installations. Scroll down for the full line-up or, better yet, get out on the streets and explore for yourself.
We start beneath the Cheesegrater, with two incredibly detailed heads by Thomas J Price. Another can be found to the back of the building.Jyll Bradley’s eye-catching sculpture of luminous discs changes appearance throughout the day as the sun moves. Each disc is etched with blueprints for the glasshouses of other centuries.Nearby, a highly polished object — huge, in primary colours — pleasingly fills a void behind the Cheesegrater. It’s an homage to the motor car by Jean-Luc Moulene.In the coveted spot before the Gherkin, Nancy Rubins offers a whirling crowd of crocodiles, stags and other plastic beasts from garden centres. The most surreal work on show.The first piece of art on Bishopsgate isn’t a physical sculpture but a sound installation of birdsong. Marina Abramovic’s work - disjointed and eerily repetitive - dates from 1972.Something more traditional on the corner of Wormwood Street, where Richard Rome offers an abstract built from earlier works. You might have seen it in Canary Wharf previously.St Botolph’s churchyard is brightened with this 1969 study of symmetry by David Annesley. It’s billed as ‘releasing endorphins‘ in the viewer.A duck and a weave to Bury Court beside the Gherkin and we find a pair of poster changers by Gabriel Lester. The two panels change to give different views of an urban landscape.In an adjoining alley the unmistakable neon writing of Tracey Emin gives a warm glow to an otherwise unremarkable space. In case you can't read it (likely), it says Your Lips Moved Across My Face.Nearby Heneage Lane is mightily improved by these lamp-top beams draped with saris. It’s the work of Clare Jarrett and was, we hear, a real pain to install.Climb by Juliana Cerqueira Leite is the negative impression of a climb inside a cylinder of clay (we’ve all been there). It’s weird and fascinating to study. Find it in Mitre Square.This year’s most haunting piece is another sound installation by Miroslaw Balka, within Hartshorn Alley. We won’t say more - just listen out for a whistle.Michael Pirgilis has placed an at-first abstract arc in Cunard Place. A closer look reveals the source.Sean Scully enlivens the space between the Willis and Lloyd’s buildings with this stack of blues representing the horizon.Sarah Lucas is next up with the most Instagramable of this year’s works, modelled on a kitsch ornament. It’s on Lime Street.Leadenhall Market contains two works. The first by Amanda Lwin hangs over a passage and looks like a simple net. Closer inspection reveals hidden depths, in more ways than one.Round the corner, Shaun C Badham brings his iconic I’m Staying message from Bristol. Here, the sign reflects the market’s survival through war and changing economy.And finally, a piece that lingers on from the 2017 show, outside Fenchurch Street station. It's called Synapsid and is by Karen Tang.
