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A massive hole was dug, the foundations have been poured, the metal supports are in place and Ekkehard is in Italy carving. He has started a blog to chart the progress of the work. It's hard to believe that this drab little bit of grass will soon host a 6 tonne marble sculpture.
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Since my last post pre-cutting of the ten tonne block of Carrara marble has been completed. There are 2 stages of cutting, one involves a straight cut with a wire diamond cutter, the second one uses a robotic arm that pre-cuts the shape based upon a further rendition of the sculpture design. This model was 3D scanned and used for the pre-cutting in the Petacchi quarry. Ekkehard has since started the fine carving.
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Ekkehard sent me this rather beautiful turned piece of marble from the block he purchased for the sculpture. It sits on the table in my office and has been admired and stroked by lots of visitors. Two weeks ago the members of the 'Thursday group' came to visit the building. They are a group of people with experience of mental health problems who meet each week to make art and to visit galleries and other cultural venues. I showed them around the building and updated them on the progress of the sculpture. They'll be doing marble carving with Ekkehard after the sculpture is finished. It seems he's made a rather good impression on members of the group and they are very excited to be working with him. The Thursday group will be curating a space in the building that I've dubbed the secret corridor. More on that plus news from Petacchi quarry soon.