Public Art: Afloat

Photograph of Afloat a huge circular donut shaped globe cast in bronze at the end of a groyne on the seafront, near the Palace Pier

Title of artwork: Afloat
Materials/Size: Bronze, 250cm diameter
Location: Groyne on seafront, near to the Palace Pier
Artist: Hamish Black
Date: 1998
Online map: Afloat Google map
Information and map download: Afloat [PDF 346kb]

'Afloat' is a huge circular donut shaped globe cast in bronze. Situated at the seaward end of the groyne, its centre at eye level allows a view of our world through the sculpture.

The donut or torus (a shape that has a continuous surface with a hole in it) has been posed as a possible model by scientists of how our universe may look. The sculpture was generated by taking a world globe and pressing the south and north poles together to form a torus. Now placed on its side the lines of longitude radiate from the central hole, linking the sea and sky. Across its surface are the shrunken shapes of the major continents, adrift like dark shadows.

This much photographed sculpture has also become a meeting point and has even been the site of marriage proposals.

See the next artwork: Passacaglia