Commission Aims
'Poised Array' by Toby Paterson was commissioned as part of BBC Scotland's move to Pacific Quay from their previous location at Queen Margaret Drive, Glasgow. The £72m project provided BBC Scotland with the first purpose digital headquarters and was designed by award-winning David Chipperfield Architects, who won the contract in 2001, bringing regeneration to the area alongside the Glasgow Science Centre. In late 2004, Keppie architects took control of the project, and the building was officially opened in late 2007.
The BBC's brief to Paterson stated aims to commission a work which was 'on a scale with the building, that energised the public spaces and, in particular, made the entrance extraordinary'.
Commission Background
BBC Scotland began the development of an 'art strategy' for the organisation in autumn 2003. In response to a brief set by Ken Cargill, Julia Radcliffe, Art Commissioning Associate at RMJM Architects and formerly of Visual Arts Projects (VAP) alongside Cargill, May Miller and Iain Marley, proposed various areas of activity for an arts program. Suggestions included the commissioning of new art for the Pacific Quay and City Halls buildings, artists’ residencies, education, outreach, the existing Queen Margaret Drive collection and the creation of a ‘legacy’ piece at Queen Margaret Drive.
Developing a project for Pacific Quay, Radcliffe compiled a list of 20 artists for consideration, eventually shortlisting Martin Boyce, Richard Wright and Toby Paterson as significant and internationally recognised artists. May Miller oversaw the initial commissioning process in her role as Creative Director Arts & Factual in BBC Scotland and manager in charge of BBC Scotland's Art committee. She was later succeeded by Donalda MacKinnon, Head of Programmes and Services, BBC Scotland. Selection was based on presentation interviews with the project's job architects, who included Martin Ebert of David Chipperfield Architects (DCA).
In May 2005 the organisation successfully concluded discussions with Paterson, selecting his work for its robust nature, dynamism, agility and wit, and its potential to 'have a strong presence within the... environment that is its context'. Paterson's brief asked him to explore the idea of a major work within or near the entrance/reception and to further consider other interventions which engaged with the interior of the space. Additionally, the BBC commissioners hoped that the conceptual basis for the work would reflect the Chipperfield architecture, the site's relationship to the river and to Glasgow, the BBC as an organisation, and the role of broadcasting in a work which was clearly new and site specific.
In December 2005 Paterson presented outline design ideas; these early proposals included a large scale sculpture at the entrance to the building, a screen for the restaurant and further smaller scale works at a number of locations within the building. Within this series of works, Paterson hoped to create a compositional relationship to the facade of the building. Using the foyer as a starting site, the building would be 'bookended' by the second screen at the opposite end of the building. This second screen, composed of clear perspex, would see the formal language of the main sculpture inverted. These proposals were tested and developed throughout 2006 to resolve all engineering needs for a large scale external sculpture, although by late 2006 it remained unclear what technicalities and costs would be incurred by the large, two-dimensional ‘screen’ proposed for the restaurant space, in addition to the series of smaller-scale works throughout the building.
Paterson developed these proposals alongside job architect Martin Ebert, with whom he later worked with at BBC North Salford, and Graven Images, who designed the interior of the building. Additionally, Paterson worked with:
Scott Associates (fabricators)
Judith Wylie (architect/CAD assistant)
Jane Wernick Associates (engineers)
Kate Purver (job engineer)
Both Wernick and Purver were selected to work with Paterson due to their knowledge of the site, having previously worked on the building.
Paterson's proposed series of works were eventually realised as the single, exterior sculpture at the building's entrance: 'Poised Array'. While Paterson felt this to be the most important element when considered within the BBC's brief eventually, project costs resulted in the second screen and other works being abandoned. An artist statement (taken from 2006, a year before completion) comments
'This group of potential works has since then been subject to continual editing and refining in the light of both hard practicalities and the conceptual and formal pressures relating to the ideas themselves.' (Paterson in BBC Scotland, Pacific Quay Art Commissioning, 6th November 2006)
However, the completed 'Poised Array' can be seen to directly fulfill and reflect the intentions of the outlined plans for the external sculpture, in addition to the briefing set by the commissioners:
'Rather than taking the approach of placing objects within the building or its environs, my approach has been to consider the introduction of further ‘layers’ into its environment. Taking the form of a large structure of steel and coloured GRP plywood panels, the sculpture will introduce a different scale and the focused use of colour into the image of PQ as a complete building, the hybrid organic/ rectilinear panel forms hinting at PQ’s formal relationship to neighbouring buildings whilst directly referencing topographical forms drawn from the Scottish landscape. The steel structure will have more of a direct relationship with the outward form of David Chipperfield’s building, but its distinctly ‘engineered‘ nature provides a contemporary hint at the Clyde’s industrial history. My hope is that the sculpture can perform a notional inversion of PQ’s image by seeming small and complex from afar against the apparently massive and simple form of the building, yet appearing larger and simpler from close-up, just as the building’s image increases in complexity as one approaches.The coloured panels will be presented in a seemingly provisional fashion by being mounted on the rectilinear steel frame. These two distinct elements invoke the sense of an organisational system, as if to represent a repository of ideas and information with the potential to be employed in an infinite number of configurations. I hope that this approach can convey concepts of interpretation, ordering and presentation that are, as I see it, made manifest in the rational and refined architecture of the building itself. In terms of its location, Poised Array will be positioned on a sliver of the Pacific Quay site just in front of the access ramp at the building’s SW corner. This also corresponds to an 18metre long section of galvanised steel panelling that contrasts with the predominantly glazed façade, and will provide a proportionately appropriate background for the sculpture.' (Toby Paterson, June 2007)
Paterson developed the project alongside 'user group' meetings, who were the main focus of consultation. Paterson describes them as a 'reliable proxy', who facilitated good communications and additionally addressed issues such as the brownfields status of the new building and the commissioned artwork's site.
Commission Difficulties
The increasing delays to the building work resulting from Keppie architects taking on the project from Chipperfield had a major effect of the project management and resulting costs of 'Poised Array'. With subsequent delays to the completion of the sculpture's actual location, a huge part of the project's budget was the cost of laying foundations for the work.
With Julia Radcliffe (RMJM Architects) leaving the project during its development, the commission was left without a project manager or co-ordinator. BBC Pacific Quay's Michelle Green handled support of the project for a period but in main Paterson was left to manage the commission in its entirety, leading to less regular contact between the BBC Scotland personnel and the artist. Paterson does however, describe positively the creative autonomy he was given by the BBC, in addition to the invaluable support of key team members, such as the project's engineers, fabricator and his assistant.
Funding
Partial funding for the commission was provided by a Scottish Arts Council Public Works Fund.
Costs were approximated at £350,000.