An architectural scale installation in Singapore Freeport which began life as an integral part of the Ron Arad show in MOMA NYC.
Description which follows, cataloging the fully arc of the piece's genesis and creation by Ron Arad:
In 2008 I was asked by Yves Bouvier and the Singapore Freeport to propose a sculpture for the foyer of the new building in Singapore. At the same time we were designing our exhibition at the MoMA New York, ‘No Discipline’. I started developing a coiling structure for the Freeport, and while working on the MoMA exhibition it dawned on me that the floor area of both spaces was remarkably similar, and the two projects started to fuse with each other. I was looking for a way to make a sculpture for Singapore which would also serve as display racking at the MoMA.
The shape of a cellular twisted band started developing. Like a cage, with no gates. You can enter it under the two twists in the centre (for some bizarre reason after a hard discussion with the Centre Pompidou convincing them to use the name ‘No Discipline’ in English for the show in Paris, I decided to give the structure for the MoMA a french name. That, plus the cage with no gates, led to the name ‘Cage sans Frontieres’ which of course led to other associations). We started modelling and refining the cage, deciding to have the cells lined in mirror-polished stainless steel and the outer skin of the cage in Cor-Ten steel. Also, we developed the ever-changing stretched form of the cells with similarly stretched caps between them.
When the visualisation arrived at the stage that it could be presented, I rushed to Paris to show it to Yves and to see if he would be so generous as to allow the cage to be built first in New York at the MoMA while the building of the Freeport was taking place. I was hoping Yves would like this proposal better than the coil that I presented to him earlier. He did! I was really grateful for his willingness to be a huge sponsor of the MoMA show and was very happy that he genuinely liked it better than the previous proposal. The cage was made in Italy, in Cantu, masterminded by Roberto Travaglia, and was shipped and installed at the MoMA, where it was stretched with a translucent continuous membrane band that due to the nature of the geometry was outside the structure on one side and inside the structure on the other. It was a huge operation, the kind of which you would never start if you knew in advance what it entailed! Equally difficult to dismantle, crate, and ship everything to Singapore (via Italy for some repairs). Luckily shipping art is an everyday activity for the Freeport team.
In Singapore the cage has a totally different presence. It sits on a reflective resin floor. It has a lot more generous space above it, and natural daylight. I am glad it was wrapped by the membrane in New York, so it was seen for the first time in its full glory in Singapore. There are viewing rooms with translucent glass on both sides of the cage, from which you can see its silhouette from a distance and enjoy views that were not available at the MoMA.
Looking back at the two events, it is frightening to think that it depended on so many little details, timings and coincidences for the cage to happen. We enjoy the cage in London thanks to a fantastic video made by a brilliant steadycam cameraman riding a Segway. Most people who view the film assume that it is a computer animation and the standard question after seeing the film is ‘will it ever be made?’. Yes it was made.
Team:
Ron Arad Ron Arad Studio
Michael Castellana Ron Arad Studio
Fabricator:
Roberto Travaglia Mazorati Ronchetti
Installation Supervision:
Giovanni Arienti
Shippers:
Evelyne Treyer Fine Art NLC
Special thanks to Alexandra Dubourg, for her optimism and support.
