Anish Kapoor
ArcelorMittal Orbit, 2012
Created by sculptor Anish Kapoor, in collaboration with engineer Cecil Balmond, ArcelorMittal Orbit is the UK’s tallest sculpture at 115 metres tall. It was commissioned by the Greater London Authority from a shortlist of artists’ proposals for a permanent tower for the Olympic Park. Construction started in November 2010 and was completed in May 2012 for the occasion of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Kapoor took inspiration for the structure from the Tower of Babel and its continually coiling structure does not allow a singular view from any one perspective, but rather invites the viewer to move around and inside it, to participate in its seemingly unstable form.
For more information and to pre-book tickets (advised during busy periods), visit the official ArcleorMittal Orbit website.
Biography
Anish Kapoor (b.1954, Mumbai) studied at Hornsey College of Art, London (1973–77) followed by postgraduate studies at Chelsea School of Art, London (1977–78). Kapoor is perhaps most famous for his public sculptures that are both adventures in form and feats of engineering. As a sculptor, he works at vastly different scales, across numerous series of work, utilising a diverse range of materials from immense PVC skins, concave or convex mirrors, pigmented recesses carved in stone and blood-red wax sculptures. Kapoor has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally and his work is included in museum collections around the world. He represented Britain at the 44th Venice Biennale in 1990 with Void Field (1989), for which he was awarded the Premio Duemila for Best Young Artist, he won the Turner Prize in 1991, was awarded a CBE in 2003 and a knighthood in 2013 for services to visual arts. He lives and works in London.
Image: Frank Da Silva
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