The opportunity to create a suspended piece of sculpture above a fabulous helical staircase in a downtown Toronto condo development was not to be passed up. Our clients wanted a piece that was ‘full and dynamic’, and we came up with the idea of suspended sculpture that would evoke the movement and feelings of a flock of birds – a ‘Murmuration’ if those birds are starlings.
Though helical staircases are not ideal environments for construction platforms, we were in safe hands with our scaffolding guys who spanned across the whole staircase, and got us in reach of the ceiling for our installation. We had to install all the hanging elements of water jet cut alumininum with the platform in place, and then drop them down to their proper lengths as the platform was removed, hoping fervently that all our measurements were correct, because that scaffold was not going back up…
All was well, and our 6ft tall assistant could get up and down the stairs without being able to reach up and touch anything, and more to the point, without feeling crowded.