During River Festival Liverpool, there will be a number of RISE commissions by female artists. Look out for them during the city’s key maritime event.
The Urchins are hand-crocheted works of art that float majestically on the water and measure more than three metres high and nearly six metres wide. They are designed by award winning architect, Jin Choi.
This project is inspired by sea urchin shells, which are enclosed yet light weight, delicate and open. Their textured and permeable surface interacting with light creates openness, while the pattern’s mathematical repetition brings visual rhythm and harmony. Against light, the sea urchin’s natural form reveals one of the most spectacular patterns found in nature.
The project mimics this orderly, repetitive pattern and soft forms, achieving a visual harmony from the contrast between nature and the man-made environment, and between the firmly grounded masculine skyscrapers and the hovering feminine object.
Liverpool is renowned globally for its football prowess and glorious Grand National. But did you know that Liverpool held an annual Grand Olympic Festival devised by John Hulley and Charles Melly between 1862 to 1867 on which the first modern Olympiad in Athens was based? This precariously balanced sculptural sequence of a runner is a fitting celebration of the awesome achievements of Liverpool’s past and present Olympiads.
The Runner was originally created in 2011 for ‘Liverpool Discovers’ a landmark public art event, documenting some of the city’s most significant historical and cultural achievements. Liverpool Discovers’ public art trail was produced by Wild in Art in association with Liverpool Lantern Company.
The Runner returns with an updated new look and the magical ability to run on water!