The huge circle of the gates for Sculpture at Goodwood is a precise copy of the ‘key’ that had been commissioned earlier, for The Open Day at Sculpture at Goodwood in the summer of 1999. The clients, Jeanette and Wilfred Cass, subsequently commissioned the gate for the main entrance of the Sculpture Park. The circular design of the original Open Day Access Key had been drawn and redrawn at the small scale many times in the struggle to articulate the tiny spaces within the circle and to create an internal dynamic. Its scaling up, from 45 mm to 4 metres diameter, was carried out with no alteration to the ‘key’ design. The fact that the design for the key became the design for the gates was a wonderful, bizarre and unexpected happening. As the gate swings open it seems quite logical that the circle splits into two uneven sections. The gate is not a barrier: it is a sign of welcome.

SCULPTURE PARK GATES
ALUMINIUM
2000
SCULPTURE AT GOODWOOD, WEST SUSSEX
4 M DIAMETER X 3 CM DEEP
PHOTOGRAPHS: WILFRED CASS

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