Thumbnails Images Information
The parliament of reality, 2009 - CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2009 – 2006-2009 - Photo: Karl Rabe
The parliament of reality, 2009
CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2009 – 2006-2009
Photo: Karl Rabe
The parliament of reality, 2009 - CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2009 – 2006-2009 - Photo: Jaime Henderson
The parliament of reality, 2009
CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2009 – 2006-2009
Photo: Jaime Henderson
The parliament of reality, 2009 - CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2009 – 2006-2009 - Photo: Karl Rabe
The parliament of reality, 2009
CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2009 – 2006-2009
Photo: Karl Rabe
The parliament of reality, 2009 - CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2009 – 2006-2009 - Photo: Jaime Henderson
The parliament of reality, 2009
CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2009 – 2006-2009
Photo: Jaime Henderson
The parliament of reality, 2009 - CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2009 – 2006-2009 - Photo: Jaime Henderson
The parliament of reality, 2009
CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2009 – 2006-2009
Photo: Jaime Henderson
The parliament of reality, 2009 - CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2012 – 2006-2009 - Photo: Karl Rabe
The parliament of reality, 2009
CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2012 – 2006-2009
Photo: Karl Rabe
The parliament of reality, 2009 - CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2012 – 2006-2009 - Photo: Karl Rabe
The parliament of reality, 2009
CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2012 – 2006-2009
Photo: Karl Rabe
The parliament of reality, 2009 - CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2012 – 2006-2009 - Photo: Karl Rabe
The parliament of reality, 2009
CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2012 – 2006-2009
Photo: Karl Rabe
Sketch for The parliament of reality, 2009
Sketch for The parliament of reality, 2009
Spread from TYT (Take Your Time) Vol. 1: Small Spatial Experiments, edited by Studio Olafur Eliasson, Berlin 2007
Spread from TYT (Take Your Time) Vol. 1: Small Spatial Experiments, edited by Studio Olafur Eliasson, Berlin 2007
The parliament of reality, 2009 - CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2009 – 2006-2009 - Photo: Jaime Henderson
The parliament of reality, 2009
CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2009 – 2006-2009
Photo: Jaime Henderson
1 of 11

The parliament of reality nestles gently within the green campus of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. A ring of trees circumscribes a gathering place on a round island at the centre of an artificial pond. In spring, summer, and autumn, the twenty-four Golden Chain trees (Laburnum anagyroides) screen the artwork off from the surroundings, creating a discrete natural space for meeting. A bridge covered by an arched tunnel of stainless-steel tracery leads to the island.
Boulders arranged around the periphery of the island invite users – students, teachers, and visitors – to sit down, relax, and discuss. Individually cut stone tiles on the floor map out a pattern of criss-crossing lines that converge clock-like at twelve points along the island’s circumference. The pattern, inspired by the twelve-point wind rose of antiquity and by the intersecting lines of nautical charts, gestures towards the navigation of ideas that is the central activity of a parliament.

 

Artwork details

Title

The parliament of reality

Year

2006-2009

Materials

Concrete, stone, stainless steel, water, Golden Chain trees (Laburnum anagyroides), other plants