Hales Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Rachael Champion's site-specific sculpture, Tower of Varieties at The Birmingham Hippodrome.
As part of the celebrations to mark Birmingham Hippodrome's 120th birthday, Rachael Champion was commissioned to make a site-specific sculpture for the foyers in collaboration with Pangaea Sculptors' Centre.
Layers of suspended organic forms adorned with architectural imagery ascend the staircase void of the Hippodrome's foyer, punctuated by angular gleaming aluminium evocative of what one might find backstage. Tower of Varieties is a site-specific artwork that employs architectural history and technical theatre apparatus to highlight the fascinating textures of the city of Birmingham in the context of the city's most acclaimed theatre. In honour of the Hippodrome's 120th birthday, Tower of Varieties celebrates the Hippodrome through 120 years of Birmingham's remarkable built environment.
The installation is comprised of twelve sculptures, representing the twelve decades of the Hippodrome's existence. The imagery reflects a range of architectural styles found throughout the city from buildings that have been realised during the past 120 years. The featured architecture ranges from the majestic red brick Aston Webb Building at the University of Birmingham to the biomorphic futurist forms of Selfridges. The sculptural shapes found in Tower of Varieties are derived from specimens observed at the Lapworth Museum of Geology at the University of Birmingham. The suspended layers are reminiscent of geological strata, implying different time periods in reference to the changes of architectural styles in Birmingham over the past 120 years.
Rachael Champion
Tower of Varieties
Birmingham Hippodrome
Hurst Street, Southside
Birmingham, B5 4TB
For more information please visit the Birmingham Hippodrome website here.
