Atheneum Columns installation at Assembly, Sunderland
Assembly Group Exhibition
bringing together works by members of the Royal Society of Sculptors
curated by Alexandra Carr and Alex Breeze, 12 june - 25 july 2026
The installation, named for the Atheneum Hall which it occupies, used a column system of development to introduce form into space. It visually and physically connects high, inaccessible spaces with the floor where viewers stand, taking them vicariously skywards while remaining anchored to the ground. The form works with the materiality of the thread, moving from taut structures that bring spatial geometry to the heights, through flowing lines to delicate pooled layers on the ground, their curving patterns coming from the tight coils they’ve just been released from.
The open structure of the work makes the entire form visible. Walking around it, or moving from side to side, reveals the three-dimensionality of the forms through the experience of motion parallax. This shows the depth and positions in space of both individual forms and the group, recalling everyday encounters with three-dimensionality in real life where the apparent shape-shifting of groups of trees or buildings as you move past reveal their shapes and positions in 3d space. In real life the experience can be visually complex however in this context the forms have no mass so they appear almost transparent, and so the experience is pared down bringing into focus the graceful choreography created simply by movement.
Images: 1. PV (image: Alex Breeze); 2. Presentation given as part of a gallery talk by Hettie Judah’s (image: Helen Higgins);
3. Poster, with sculpture by Jill Townsley; 4. Assembly exhibition overview. (All photos, other than as credited, Caroline Lambard)