Yorkshire Sculpture International will be the UK's largest event to celebrate sculpture
28 Jun 2018
The first Yorkshire Sculpture International will take place from Saturday 22 June to Sunday 29 September 2019 .
Yorkshire Sculpture International will be delivered by the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle made up of the Henry Moore Institute, The Hepworth Wakefield, Leeds Art Gallery and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. It will showcase the breadth and diversity of contemporary sculpture practice, inspiring audiences to rethink what they understand the form to be.
The event will feature work by international artists at each of the four venues. Major new outdoor sculpture commissions across public spaces in Leeds and Wakefield will invite visitors to interact with art in unexpected places.
The 2019 event will explore a statement put forward by artist Phyllida Barlow – ‘Sculpture is the most anthropological of the art forms’ – responding to the idea that there is a basic human impulse to make and connect with objects.
The event has now raised more than £1 million, including a National Lottery funded Ambition for Excellence grant from Arts Council England and regional investment from Leeds 2023, Wakefield Council, Leeds Beckett University and The University of Leeds.
“Sculpture is an awkward and provocative discipline, constantly and persistently questioning itself. Yorkshire Sculpture International is an imaginative initiative – the renowned institutions centred in Leeds and Wakefield, which already constitute an exceptional focus on sculpture, will provide a challenging and inspirational opportunity to give priority to what sculpture is now – who it is for, what it is, and where and how it is located. No doubt each institution will reflect different concerns and raise questions around the rich potential of what sculpture can be – the more confrontational, surprising, difficult and thought-provoking, the better.”
– Phyllida Barlow
