Swire Properties has partnered with the UK designer Paul Cocksedge Studio to tour a public art installation around China – and visitors are going to be delighted.
British design firm Paul Cocksedge Studio has joined with Swire Properties to tour a major public artwork called Please Be Seated.
The large-scale installation first showed at the Temple Plaza in the Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu and will travel across the country to Taikoo Hui in Guangzhou, Taikoo Li Qiantan in Shanghai, and finally, Taikoo Li Sanlitun in Beijing, where it will become a permanent installation in the capital city.
The launch of Please Be Seated by Paul Cocksedge Studio in Chengdu
The debut of this major art piece across Swire’s retail projects in the Chinese mainland will offer world-class art and cultural experiences for local communities to enjoy, engaging them through the interactivity of the art experience.
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This is the first international showcase of the giant public art piece since its critically acclaimed debut at the London Design Festival in 2019. It was designed by Paul Cocksedge Studio to respond to the busy nature of urban life, reinvigorating the way local audiences interact with space and the community. The 15.2 metre-long installation features ‘waves’ of wood rising up to form arches for people to walk through, and curves under to create space for people to sit, lie and relax. The piece is fabricated from 1,440 planks of sustainably-sourced timber.
Please Be Seated on display in Temple Plaza of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu
“We’re delighted to partner with Paul Cocksedge Studio to bring this ambitious art piece to four of our retail centres in the Chinese mainland,” said Tim Blackburn who is Swire Properties’ Chinese mainland CEO. “This installation, which merges innovation, sustainability and art, is a wonderful showcase of our commitment to creative placemaking in our communities. With this piece, we invite the public to explore and engage with the artwork on their own terms, interacting with it so that they become an integral part of the piece themselves. We feel this sends a powerful message of the personal relationships we form with art, and speaks to our vision of curating exceptional art and cultural experiences within our developments.
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“Please Be Seated was an instinctive response to public space and the rhythm of people moving through it. We are excited to work with Swire Properties again to create a piece of work that engages with the public, and puts them at the centre of design,” said Cocksedge of the installation.
Paul Cocksedge Studio has a longstanding creative partnership with Swire Properties and has created ambitious pieces of work including Gust of Wind at HKRI Taikoo Hui in Shanghai, and Spectrum for the Swire Properties VIP lounge at Art Basel Hong Kong 2019.
