Magic Circle

2024

LOCATION: 1 ELIZABETH STREET, SYDNEY, NSW

Fabrication: UAP

Magic Circle was commissioned for 1 Elizabeth and brings together the architecture of the natural world with distinctly man-made forms. In thinking about the new construction and functionality of this busy location, which includes the Martin Place Metro station deep in the ground below, the artists see parallels between the infrastructures we build to support human activity and those found in non-human societies.

Specifically, in Magic Circle the artists draw an analogy between the complexity of enormous ant nests and the modern city spaces that humans build. Both are interconnected with underground tunnels and emerge above ground as complex vertical structures.

When oriented horizontally, the sculpture alternatively resembles an inverted skate park, another human-made form with undulating curves not unlike ant mounds. The sense of play invoked by the suggestion of a skate park is furthered by the highly reflective polished stainless steel surface, which illuminates the space around us while also capturing pedestrian flux as people move about the precinct. Magic Circle refers to the porous line that delineates the regular world and the world of play described in Johan Huizinga’s book Homo Ludens. The vernacular nature of the curved structure of the inverted skate bowl is similar to the stigmergy found within ant architecture suggesting that through play we can also find solutions. The work celebrates the embracing of ideas and the freedom to explore.

In planning the work, Healy & Cordeiro made a considered response to the 1960s sculptural installations by Douglas Annand and Tom Bass that have also been incorporated into the site. The convex contours of Magic Circle reverse the organic, concave forms of Tom Bass’ Fountain, which also invoke the natural world, while its modern interpretation of relief sculpture pays homage to each of the nearby wall-mounted works by Douglas Annand.