| Sculpture Information | |
|---|---|
| Completion | 2018 |
| Exhibition | Swell Sculpture Festival 2018 |
| Dimensions | 3,009 mm (H) × 2,651 mm (W) × 2,595 mm (L) |
| Weight | 1,000 kg |
| Materials | Ceramic printed glass, aluminium composite sheet, marine-grade plywood |
| Status | Destroyed (December 2019) |
I made Sandberg for the 2018 Swell Sculpture Festival on the Gold Coast. A geometric glass installation shaped like an iceberg, placed directly on Currumbin Beach, appearing to emerge from the sand.
Form and materials
The sculpture stood just over three metres tall and weighed one tonne. Eighty-one glass triangles covered a modular plywood and aluminium frame. Each triangle was printed with photographed Currumbin sand using ceramic ink fused permanently to the glass through heat treatment.
The sand image would never fade. It was built to outlast the glass itself.
I used 6mm toughened safety glass throughout. The structure was modular: a base frame plus six stackable units that allowed transport and assembly on the beach.
SANDBERG on Currumbin Beach 2018
What viewers experienced
On the beach at Currumbin, the sculpture sat in the sand like something frozen mid-rise. Visitors could walk around it, touch the surface, compare the printed sand to the real sand at their feet.
The form was geometric but organic. Flat, straight-edged materials arranged into a freeform shape. The same ripples in wind-blown sand that surround the work mirror ripples in water. I wanted to give the beach what the ocean has: an iceberg.
Context
Sandberg was exhibited at Swell Sculpture Festival in September 2018.
In December 2019, the sculpture was transported 1,700 km to Victoria for an arts festival. On 20 December, dry lightning started a bushfire that spread to the festival grounds. Sandberg was in its transport crate, positioned where it would have been displayed.
The fire consumed the work before the festival opened. Temperatures exceeded 1,000°C. The glass and aluminium melted. Nothing recognisable remained.
After
I expected rubble. What I found in the photographs was almost nothing. Ashes. A piece of melted aluminium held up by a local, its form now organic, flowing, frozen mid-escape.
I made States of Anguish in response. That work is Sandberg's geometry collapsed from 3D to 2D. The centre point corresponds to the apex. The triangles are the same facets, laid flat. The melted aluminium fills the space between them. The form survived in a different state.
Since then, the Sandberg outline has been routered into the aluminium front door of my home. T-shirts. Augmented reality versions. The form continues.
Current status
Destroyed by bushfire, December 2019. No components survive.
The making of Sandberg
Sandberg made its debut display at SWELL Sculpture festival at Currumbin beach in September 2018.
Destruction of SANDBERG
SANDBERG was destroyed by the Australian bushfires in 2019. Below are a few photos. Read more about my response with my artwork States of Anguish.
