Untitled sculpture, University of York

Public sculpture, ‘Untitled’, 1967 by Austin Wright in cast and welded aluminium. It is set within, and includes, a boxed concrete ramp designed as part of the main pedestrian walkway around the University of York by the architects Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners (RMJM).

DESCRIPTION: the sculpture is 2.5m high and 1.7m wide. It is formed of seven thin, vertically-placed, angular segments positioned in a circle. Each one is cut at an angle at the bottom and top of the outer edge, and in a semi-circle on the inside edge so that placed together there is a spherical space or ‘hole’ at the centre. Though abstract, the sculpture has something of the appearance of a fruit, cut into pieces and missing its core. The surface of the aluminium is rough at the outer edges but smooth towards the middle. The sculpture is set into a concrete base around which are radiating circles of squared, quarry-faced stone. This in turn is surrounded by a covered pedestrian walkway within an in-situ cast concrete boxed ramp. The walkway is paved in concrete slabs with a steel handrail attached to the wall. Externally it is cantilevered out from the centre and finished in vertically board-marked concrete with four recessed horizontal bands. The ramp is approached via an entrance from the south and leads to a concrete bridge at the east, providing access to the J B Morrell Library. An additional entrance has been cut into the top of the ramp at the south, approached by a steel staircase.