YORKSHIRE SCULPTURE PARK

After visiting family up north, I took a trip to the much loved Yorkshire sculpture park where we encountered an exhibition by Jaume Plensa from Barcelona. The weather was very foggy at the time, which only added to the atmospheric pleasure and the overall experience of seeing his sculptures- they were indeed quite inspiring.

The exhibition consisted of a number of open spaces and rooms in which different pieces from across his career were placed. For my part, I took particular interest as Jaume Plensa often combines words with the sculpture to evoke a certain feeling or response from his audience.

One space consisted of a ring of gongs, each imprinted with a phrase from the Bible. You were able to play the gongs with specially placed beaters that were suspended from the ceiling. As you struck the gongs, they emitted an incredible tone. Once all gongs had been struck and you stood in the centre of the ring, you got an amazing resonating experience, as if each of the phrases on the gongs were merging into one another.

This work particularly spoke to me as you got such an overwhelming sense of the dedication and physical input by the artist. It conjured up the image of someone being very practical in executing their art, which I can definitely relate to.

Then it was off upstairs for chips and gravy. Fantastic!