The ''Quantum Cloud'' is a contemporary

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

, designed by Antony Gormley, located next to

The O2 The O2 is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, piazzas, bars, and restaurants. It was built largely withi ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The sculpture was commissioned for the site and was completed in 1999. At high, it is Gormley's tallest sculpture to date (taller than the ''

Angel of the North The ''Angel of the North'' is a contemporary sculpture by Antony Gormley, located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Completed in 1998, it is believed to be the largest sculpture of an angel in the world and is viewed by an estimated 33 m ...

''). It is constructed from a collection of tetrahedral units made from long sections of steel. The steel sections were arranged using a computer model with a

random walk In mathematics, a random walk is a random process that describes a path that consists of a succession of random steps on some mathematical space. An elementary example of a random walk is the random walk on the integer number line \mathbb Z ...

algorithm starting from points on the surface of an enlarged figure based on Gormley's body that forms a residual outline at the centre of the sculpture. In designing ''Quantum Cloud'', Antony Gormley was influenced by

Basil Hiley Basil J. Hiley (born 1935), is a British quantum physicist and professor emeritus of the University of London. Long-time colleague of David Bohm, Hiley is known for his work with Bohm on implicate orders and for his work on algebraic descriptio ...

, quantum physicist (and long-time colleague of

David Bohm David Joseph Bohm (; 20 December 1917 – 27 October 1992) was an American-Brazilian-British scientist who has been described as one of the most significant theoretical physicists of the 20th centuryPeat 1997, pp. 316-317 and who contributed ...

). The idea for ''Quantum Cloud'' came from Hiley's thoughts on ''pre-space'' as a mathematical structure underlying space-time and matter, and his comment that “algebra is the relationship of relationships.” The comment was made during a conversation between Gormley, Hiley and writer

David Peat David Peat (22 March 1947 – 16 April 2012) was an award-winning Scottish documentary-maker, cinematographer and photographer. Early life and education Peat was born in Glasgow, Scotland. As a young man he worked in his family's shipping comp ...

at a 1999 London gathering of artists and scientists, organized by Peat. The sculpture's structural design was by Elliott Wood Partnership while the foundation design was by Beckett Rankine. Fabrication was by Tubeworkers (Structures) Ltd. Gormley's ''Quantum Cloud'' is part of

The Line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...

, a series of art works that follow the Greenwich Meridian, through the London Boroughs of Greenwich, Tower Hamlets and Newham.

References

External links

Design study
from

LUSAS LUSAS is a UK-based developer and supplier of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) application software products that bear the same name. History LUSAS has its origins back in 1970 when a group of research workers at the University of London (now i ...

software including finite element analysis of the sculptures structure and site construction photographs.
Project description and photographs
by Elliott Wood Partnership, the structural engineering firm that assisted with the design and construction of the structure.
Interview with Antony Gormley
{{Portal bar, London, Visual arts Outdoor sculptures in London 1999 sculptures Sculptures by Antony Gormley Buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Tourist attractions in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Steel sculptures in the United Kingdom Colossal statues in the United Kingdom

See also

References

External links