An Open Air Exhibition of Sculpture in Battersea Park
For this Festus project we worked in partnership with Wandsworth Council to develop proposals and temporary artworks exhibited on the vacant site of Hepworth’s Single Form Memorial within Battersea Park. Single Form Memorial was on loan for a temporary exhibition in Summer 2022.
Barbara Hepworth made Single Form Memorial in response to the death of a friend, Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1953-61. The bronze in Battersea was cast from a plaster prototype to be exhibited as part of London County Council's (LCC) Battersea Park 'Sculpture: Open-air Exhibition', held from May-September 1963. This 1963 ‘Open-air Exhibition’ was the last in a series of exhibitions first proposed in 1946 by Patricia Strauss, a civil servant and vice chair of the London County Council Parks. Her idea was part of a wider moment of reimagining Britain after the end of the Second World War and reflected a post-war shift from commemorative sculpture and architectural enrichment to an idea of public sculpture as a primarily aesthetic contribution to the public realm.
The aim of this Festus project was to:
- Prepare for the commissioning processes of professional practice
- Reflect on the changing functions of art in the public sphere
- Support responses to the political, historical and formal context of site
- Consider the wider legacy of Barbara Hepworth’s work within a contemporary context
- Engage with the different visitors and audiences that use the park
- Work collaboratively and collectively to propose a public programme of talks and group proposals for the vacant site of Dame Hepworth’s sculpture: Single Form Memorial
The Festus programme had contributions from Anna Vickery (Wandsworth Council’s Arts Programme and Partnership Manager) and Hannah Lambert (RCA’s Community Engagement Manager) as well as those involved in the wider activities of Battersea Park, including Neil Blackley, Head of Parks and The Friends of Battersea Park. Jaspar Joseph-Lester and Joanne Tatham will draw on their own research within the sphere of situated and public art practice to provide a wider creative and intellectual framing for the week’s activities.
