Unity Place
Artist: Charlotte Kidger
Client: Zurich Insurance plc
Curated by Ginkgo Projects
2022
Ginkgo Projects curated a permanent public art installation by artist Charlotte Kidger for Unity Place, a new development for Zurich HQ, Swindon. Just announced as the winner of Wallpaper* 'Best Elements of Surprise' category, this ambitious new public artwork explores re-use and hidden beauty within overlooked, down-graded materials.
Artist Charlotte Kidger’s practice is led by a hands-on approach to investigating how industrial waste materials can be reprocessed and transformed into sculptural and functional objects. For Unity Place, she worked closely with the Zurich Art Panel and Ginkgo Projects to deliver a new series of works, including the brutalist, playful sculptures titled ‘Waste-based Terrazzo Family’. The use of recycled and waste aggregates became an integral part of the design concept, championing the end-of-life potential in materials. Kidger worked with brick and glass companies and construction and quarry industries to create new compilations, hand-crafted for the commission, including: recycled TV screens turned into aggregates; construction waste (made up of brick chippings from Northcott brick); and China Clay Stent (a by-product from extracting china clay from quarries in Cornwall). Moulded into stacked, repeated shapes – akin to a child’s building blocks – the series of tactile terrazzo sculptures are situated in the urban landscape to inject colour and character and encourage people to take the time to dwell.
Within the Zurich building, a window installation of 58 marbled discs highlights the potential to salvage and recycle the high volumes of LDPE (low density polyethylene) used in the construction industry. Kidger worked with sustainable plastic studio Weez & Merl to re-use 55kg of LDPE in peach, blue and clear colourways, resembling the ratios at which LDPE is collected and showcasing the potential of a typically wasted material.
Workshops for members of the local community and Zurich staff encouraged people to learn and exchange ideas around the re-use and aesthetic appeal of unexpected materials. In partnership with Weez & Merl this included preparing plastics for re-processing for the window installation, and creating custom coasters for every participant.
“Reducing the environmental impact of artists’ work is a key consideration within the commissioning process. Working with Charlotte Kidger on this project has been a fascinating opportunity to take this further.”
“The Unity Place project had a significant sustainability focus for us so we were delighted to partner with Ginkgo Projects and Charlotte Kidger, an artist with such a passion for creating sustainable art pieces through waste materials.”
Images: Unity Place, works by Charlotte Kidger (2022). Commissioned by Zurich Insurance, curated by Ginkgo Projects. Photographs courtesy Jamie Woodley.