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THIS TOO WILL PASS

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Tim Scrace‘s sculpture, This Too Will Pass, #TTWP has been installed on the High Street in Salisbury and will remain in place throughout the summer 2021. The installation is part of Salisbury BID’s ongoing support for local businesses, particularly as they reopen after three months of lockdown, supporting a vibrant city centre that attracts both residents and visitors to Salisbury’s independent businesses and hospitality venues.

This video was prepared by Carlton Brunton of Brunton Media

People

The sculpture was created to mimic pilgrimage, the movement of people to and from the cathedral.  The passing of time and memory.  The process of reflection, mindfulness and vision represented in snapshots of the past, present and future.  Viewers pass along the same path as their ancestors and are encouraged to stop and recognise this.  The large monoliths created by recycled boards also hint to the neighbouring Stonehenge and other spiritual connections. Emphasising the link between the high street, st thomas’ and the cathedral they direct and articulate this force and movement.

Technology

The stones represent the process of constructing the cathedral, the crafting of a rock to a finished element, a finial.  Machine driven technology has enabled us to make products in a different way.  Where the materials of the past might be stone, those of the future are made of recycled plastic and recycled paper.

Vision

In allowing the community to mark the boards using chalk the aim of the sculpture is to help the city find its collective voice.  To reflect on the past and build on its future.  The world is changing and we all need to make changes.  “This Too Will Pass” provides a platform for this transition.  Please make a visit to Salisbury to share your thoughts and ideas.

WITH THANKS

The sculpture is funded by Arts Council England’s National Lottery Funding Grant.  The following people and organisations helped bring the sculpture to life. Thanks to: Salisbury Bid, Salisbury Cathedral Works Yard, Salisbury Joinery, Wiltshire Creative, Deborah Fox, James Gough, RDF Lighting, Richlite, Stormboard, RNC Fabrications, Wiltshire Council, Salisbury City Council, Design Pit, Signs Express.

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COMMENTS

Deborah Fox, owner of local gallery, café and gift shop Fisherton Mill, said: “It is so exciting to see our cityscape being enlivened by this locally designed, interactive artwork for the summer season. Visitors and locals alike are now so much more appreciative of the outdoors and Salisbury is very blessed with vibrant and historic streets and our High Street views will be further enhanced with this addition.”

Robert Titley, Chair of Salisbury Cathedral’s Arts Advisory Committee and Canon Treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral said: “It is wonderful to see Cathedral stone used in this new work. The builders of our Cathedral were driven by faith and hope, and they reached out for something beyond the everyday. We see that same spirit in this installation, and it’s a spirit we all need as we look forward from this hardest of years.”

Jess Gibbons, Wiltshire Council Director, Community and Neighbourhood services, said: “We are delighted to have been able to help facilitate the installation of this interactive sculpture in an area of Salisbury where it will be seen by a large number of people. Although this piece of art was initially developed as part of the 800th anniversary of the Cathedral commemoration, the theme of ‘This Too Will Pass’ is particularly relevant and poignant given the events of the last year or so. We hope that residents and visitors to the city take the opportunity to interact with the sculpture and it enables them to reflect on their own past, present and future.”

Salisbury Mayor Elect Councillor Caroline Corbin said: “Salisbury is excited about welcoming residents and visitors safely back into the city centre this summer as lockdown measures ease. This interactive sculpture will be an additional attraction, giving people a chance to reflect on the past but also to envisage a bright and optimistic future for us all.”

In-Between

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We often overlook our environment as we pass by.  However, it is the spaces in-between that form part of our journey which tend to be the most interesting.  The adventure of architecture is not in making one-off beautiful buildings, but seeing how they relate to the landscape and to one another.

It is the spaces and shapes of the in-between that tantalise, the sculptural play of light from object to object, the collective coming together of design and effort.  It is the conversation between two forms that makes the architecture.  This is most prevalent in the city, where the history of a place is captured in a moment.

A compressed medieval passageway leading to a meteoric, manmade skyscraper is what makes the built environment so exciting.  The in-between space is encapsulated by the cobbles underfoot coupled with the glint of light of a unitised glazing system.  The surging symphony of the shapes around, the touch of a damp old walls, a steep level change, the weather, the sound, all bubble over to speak of an architecture of sensation.

Much like a still life, architecture is the meeting of objects and forms that connect in their similarity by arbitrary arrangement.  It is in the shadow, and in colour and contrast that their relationship to one another is expressed.  “Half shut your eyes” I was told by my art teacher, “… take in the outline, the silhouettes, the shadows, then turn to draw textures.”  If you want to see space differently, now is the time to take the magic potion.  Imagine yourself 1/100th of your normal size, walking amongst the old lantern, the pepper pot and the baseball bat.

You are now experiencing the architecture of still life.  Time to explore what the in-between space feels like.  Large and foreboding, or intimate and cosy, what factors are at play?  I suspect you will find they are the same factors that define our built environment: surface, light, natural colour and form.

It is all very well defining the contained spaces inside, but a real place maker looks outside their box to the shadows of the past, to the collective consciousness of a place, and to the meetings of these buildings.  When you are next out and about, take a moment, half shut your eyes, look at the in-between spaces, look up and you may just begin to see space differently.