- Venue
- Kensington Gardens
- Location
- London
A crisp winter’s day and Kensington Gardens is reflecting skywards. Dog walkers, couples, children, runners, roller-bladers, riders and the Horse Guard are observing a parallel life in the mirrored Anish Kapoor sculptures placed around the park.
The last artist to grace Kensington Gardens with a large scale sculpture exhibition was Henry Moore in 1978, who’s Arch, continued after the exhibition to occupy the space currently taken by Sky Mirror 2006. Arch was originally sited opposite GF Watts’ Physical Energy statue. The Moore exhibition encouraged touch and intimacy with the sculptures, but when permanently sited it was moved behind a fence and behind the path out of the sticky-fingered reach of park goers. By choosing to place Sky Mirror 2006 on the site of the Arch, Kapoor ensured his works could only be viewed from a distance. The same applies to the other sculptures around the park. All have been cordoned off although it’s questionable if this is for the sake of the park-goers or the sculptures, as the parks dogs routinely fail to observe the cordon.
The sculptures observe the gaze of passersby – many approaching them as they would a hall of mirrors. Non Object (spire), Sky Mirror 2006 and C-Curve 2007 bring the vast expanse of park down to a manageable size, producing a moving image – a camera obscura of the park.
Sky Mirror 2009, however stands apart from the others. It is sited several metres from the edge of the Round Pond, on a direct sight line with the Longwater which houses Sky Mirror (2006). Whilst the others reflect the vast expanse of sky –Sky Mirror 2009 is an absolute red. Dense, it pulls the park in, taking you down with it into the water. An ironic sign, ignored by the ducks, indicates ‘do not touch the sculpture’.
