Ryan Gander

Deconstruct and rebuild a brutalist icon with this playful special edition by artist Ryan Gander.

‘Building Blocks for Five Minds of Great Vision‘ is a set of wooden blocks inspired by the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, produced alongside Ryan Gander’s major project ‘Time Moves Quickly’.

In 2018, Gander worked collaboratively with five children from Knotty Ash Primary School in Liverpool – Jamie Clark, Phoebe Edwards, Tianna Mehta, Maisie Williams and Joshua Yates – to produce a series of artworks for Liverpool Biennial. The project took inspiration from the Montessori method of education, based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play.

For the commission, Gander dissected a model of architect Frederick Gibberd’s modernist cathedral into a series of simple ‘building blocks’ which were reassembled into different configurations by the children. The maquettes that Gander and the children created were then reproduced on a larger scale to produce five bench-like sculptures that were positioned on the cathedral’s plateau for the duration of the Biennial.

These ‘building blocks’ have been reproduced in a high-quality wood finish and are available as a special edition through Liverpool Biennial only.

Ryan Gander (b. 1976, Chester, UK) is an artist living and working in London and Suffolk, UK. Through associative thought processes that connect the everyday and the esoteric, his artworks materialise in many different forms: from sculpture to film, writing, graphic design, installation, performance and more. Gander’s work involves a questioning of language and knowledge, a reinvention of the modes of appearance and creation of an artwork.

Ryan Gander, Building Blocks for Five Minds of Great Vision, 2018. ©Robin Clewley.

The sale of this Special Edition directly supports Liverpool Biennial’s new commissions, exhibitions, talks and education programmes.

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