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Monumental Muse & Crystal Bust

Ackroyd & Harvey

© Ackroyd & Harvey
1994 – 2024

Commissioned and presented by La Nuova Scena Inglese (UK Today), Rome, Italy at Palazzo delle Esposizioni

Funded by The British Council, Rome

Ackroyd and Harvey created two sculptures through processes of growth. One was made of grass and grew from plant seeds whilst the other was crystallised from a supersaturated chemical solution. The grass figure was continuously growing and was made by planting a mass of grass seed in a mould taken from a replica statue of an ancient muse housed in the sculpture studio of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma. As the young blades shot upwards, the roots mapped and described the dark interior surface of the mould. The sculpture was initially shown still growing within its plaster cast and then without, so that it revealed the positive form of the muse, created entirely by the living root system.

Crystallisation occurs more rapidly than the germination of the plant seed and so the crystal figure was presented in its final state. The copper sulphate polycrystalline mass assumed the form of an original plaster cast taken from a live person; small seed crystals shaped the skin surface. While the crystal figures remained in a fixed state, the grass continued to grow.Crystallisation occurs more rapidly than the germination of the plant seed and so the crystal figure was presented in its final state. The copper sulphate polycrystalline mass assumed the form of an original plaster cast taken from a live person; small seed crystals shaped the skin surface. While the crystal figures remained in a fixed state, the grass continued to grow.

© Ackroyd & Harvey
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