Public Art Strategy and Programme

Tree of Life 2012, Proposal for New Radcliffe House, Image © Oona Culley

On Wednesday 27 February 2013 the Vice Chancellor and Sir Nicholas Serota announced the launch of Tracing Venus, the public art strategy and programme for the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, and the appointment of internationally renowned artist Simon Periton as site-wide artist.

The public art strategy is designed to provide an overarching framework for a holistic approach to public art across the ROQ site, enhancing the University’s vision for an integrated campus that encourages collaboration between disciplines. It will be managed and curated by Modus Operandi

The aim is that the ROQ should become a new cultural quarter in Oxford, which will become widely known as a site of an evolving programme of artistic experiment, open-ended research and interdisciplinary collaboration. It will be a place where art of the highest quality and ambition is integrated into the fabric of the public realm and architecture.

An imaginatively curated public art programme is intended to act as a creative catalyst, connecting people and places within and beyond the ROQ.

Simon Periton, the site-wide artist, will create a unique, distinctive and memorable cultural identity for the ROQ. His proposal builds on the concept of cross-pollination and interaction between disciplines and will be developed with the Humanities and associated departments on site. His proposal is for a central sculpture representing a golden Alchemical Tree, a symbol connected with growth and transformation and a quest for knowledge. The central sculpture will be complemented by smaller satellite works placed across the site relating back to the work visually and materially.

The Vice-Chancellor said: ‘I am delighted that the University has commissioned the ROQ public art strategy by Modus Operandi, who are also guiding us in the process of selecting artists as the site develops. Art has a key role to play in creating the new Quarter, forming the backbone of its future cultural life and linking it with the wider city.’

Above image: Golden Alchemical Tree Proposal, 2012. Adapted from Splendor Solis by Salomon Trismosin, 1582 (vellum), German School, (16th century) British Library, London. Image © Simon Periton