Wolfgang Buttress (born 1965) is an English artist. He creates multi-sensory artworks that draw inspiration from our evolving relationship with the

natural Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part ...

world. Buttress explores and interprets

scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

discoveries, collaborating with architects,

landscape architects A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water managem ...

, scientists and musicians to create human-centred experiences.

Biography

Buttress was brought up in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

and

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

and currently lives in and works from a

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

. Receiving his early education in Cumbria, including an arts foundation course, Buttress took a fine arts degree at Nottingham Trent. On 1 July 2019, he appeared on the podcast Trees A Crowd with David Oakes and his long term collaborator, Dr Martin Bencsik.

Work

Buttress has produced artworks on four

continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...

s including Europe, Australia, Japan and the

U.S The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He is well known for the ''UK Pavilion'' ( Milan EXPO 2015) and ''The Hive'', a collaboration with

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Dr Martin Bencsik, BDP,

Hoare Lea Hoare Lea is a UK-based, multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy firm, specialising in building services. The firm works with clients from the detailed design stage right through to delivery. History Hoare Lea was founded by Henry Lea in 18 ...

and Simmonds Studio, currently installed at

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

, London, England. The project has won over 25 awards including the gold medal for best in show at the

2015 Expo Expo 2015 was a World's fair, World Expo hosted by Milan, Italy. It opened on May 1 at 10:00 Central European Summer Time, CEST and closed on October 31. Milan hosted an exposition for the second time; the first was the 1906 Milan Internation ...

in Milan. ''The Hive'' is a 17 metre aluminium lattice cuboid that highlights the decline of the

honey bee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to mainland Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the ...

. By measuring the activity of a living bee colony at

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

accelerometer An accelerometer is a device that measures the proper acceleration of an object. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change (mathematics), rate of change of velocity) of the object relative to an observer who is in free fall (tha ...

s feed live signals to 1000

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

lights which line the interior of the sculpture. The energy informs an ever-changing and fluid

soundscape A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term, originally coined by Michael Southworth, was popularized by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...

created by a selected ensemble of musicians who now write and perform under the name of BE. RISE is a large spherical public art work in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. Other scientific collaborations include ''UNA'' (2013), in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, Australia and ''Lucent'' (2015), in Chicago, both these project express the

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

mapping research of astrophysicist Dr Daniel Bayliss. ''Corona'' (2017) is a collaboration with Dr Martin Bencsik; two

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

satellites monitor the sun's activity which is expressed in real time as an ever-changing light array onto a 1,000m façade of the new science research hub in Nottingham, England. Current projects include sculptures in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, the US, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Selected works

Notable Works Include: * '' Rise'' Belfast * '' A Spire for Mansfield'' * '' Golden'' in Stoke-on-Trent * ''UK Pavilion Milan Expo 2015"'' * Angel Wings, Islington * Lucent. Chicago * The Hive at Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buttress, Wolfgang 1965 births Living people English artists