丨英国利物浦丨Richard Wilson

He cut out part of the building’s façade and set it in motion. Richard Wilson’s installation

Kamil Białas

‘Turning the place over’ is the name of an art installation by Richard Wilson. The artist cut out a circular section of the building’s façade and made it rotate 360 degrees.

The installation was on view in 2008. Despite the passage of years, the facade of the building treated in this way at the time is still impressive. The author of the installation was Richard Wilson, a British artist who has been called a master of illusion. His bold art installations have most often appeared in public spaces and generated a great deal of interest.

Turning the place over is an example of such installations. The artist created a moving sculpture, for which he used the façade of the abandoned Old Yate’s Lodge building in Liverpool. The cut-out section is circular in shape and ten metres in diameter. A special mechanism rotates part of the wall and allows the interior of the building to be approached.

In 2008. Liverpool was the European capital of culture. The installation Turning the place over then became one of the city’s highlights. A section of the wall was placed on a set of powerful rollers which, driven by a motor, allowed it to continuously rotate 360 degrees. The position of the section was constantly changing, sometimes it was completely inverted, sometimes it protruded strongly beyond the contour of the building, which created a strong sense of disorientation. A protruding section of wall among the audience may even have raised safety concerns. This effect can best be seen in the video:

Professor Richard Wilson has won numerous awards for his work as an artist and has also received a commendation from Queen Elizabeth II. He holds the title of Honorary Royal Academician of the Royal Academy of Arts in London and an honorary doctorate from the University of East London’s. He was nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize in London.