• Sun, Blackpool, 2019

    Collaboration with solar physicist Prof. Robert Walsh (University of Central Lancashire). SUN projects 10 weeks of astrophysical data from NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory in 360°, through a 7m suspended sphere. Made with support from Arts Council England and the Science Technologies Facilities Council, a co-commission by the Lightpool Festival (Blackpool) and Light Up Lancaster.
     
    Sound composed by: Ebe Oke
    Counter-tenor: Feargal Mostyn Williams
    Technical Production: Pufferfish Displays
    AV: warpro
    Special effects: Matt Askey
    Production Manager: Netty Miles
    H/S Advice: Alan Horsfield
    Images courtesy of NASA/SDO and AIA science team.
     
  • Piglet, Manchester 2019

    7m piglet in St. Ann's Square, Manchester to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Pig. 
     
    Commissioned by Manchester BID. Design: Marius Jansen Van Vuuren, Lehlohonolo Lepheana, Matt Nightingale. 
    Build Team: Marius Jansen Van Vuuren, Andy Fordham, Roberto Bandino, Ben Sharratt.
     
    Thanks to the teams at CityCo and Connect Engineering.
  • Squirrel, Kazakhstan, 2018

    A 13 m straw and steel sculpture in central Almaty. Squirrels reflect human migration to cities over the last century - sharing similar challenges in finding a place to call home. Squirrel puts us in the place of our furry friends, inviting us to think about our relationships to each other and where we live.    Commissioned by Akimat of Almaty. Produced by FUNK Creation Agency. Design: Mike de Butts, Eldar Khassarov. Build: Marius Jansen Van Vuuren + a team of 25. Producers: Alessya Nugayeva, Inna Kantemirova, Alexsander Galiev. Exec Producer: Mayra Izmaylova 
  • Artist in Residence, pvi collective, Australia, 2017

    I am pvi's inaugural artist-in-residence, looking at the challenges of making large-scale outdoor participatory work. I spent a month with them in February, and am returning there in November. pvi collective create agitational, participatory artworks that are intent on the creative disruption of everyday life. Every artwork aims to affect audiences on a personal and political level and is geared towards instigating tiny revolutions. 
  • Urban Fox, Bird Hotel, Shanghai, 2016

    In the two years that Urban Fox has stood in Shanghai, pollution in the air has turned the straw black. At the same time, four families of sparrows have made their homes in the structure. I wanted to celebrate their ingenuity for the 2016 Jing’an International Sculpture Project by turning the fox into a Hotel for Shanghai wildlife. The relationship of the birds to the fox can become a metaphor for the relationship of people to the city of Shanghai. We partnered with Museum of Natural History and the Jing’an District government. JISP 2016 runs from September 20 – November 20, 2016.
  • Emerge/ncy (collaboration with Tangled Feet), 2016

    An 8m portal appeared overnight in the middle of the city. Over the course of six hours, people emerged from the top, bewildered and displaced. The durational performance by acclaimed outdoor theatre company Tangled Feet was two years in the making, a comment on global inequality and migration. Emerge/ncy showed at the Imagine Watford Festival, the Greenwich Docklands International Festival and the Brighton Festival. Designed and made with Mike de Butts from Shipshape Arts, over two months.
  • Fire Helix, 2015

    Trey Watkins’ wonderful fire piece, a free-standing 14’ double-helix spitting fire in 36 places. People have to work together to make it start, triggering 3-minute programmed sequences. Fire Helix is coming to the UK and to Dubai in 2016. (tourable)
  • Urban Fox, Shanghai, 2014

    I was invited to present Urban Fox at the Jing’an International Sculpture Project (JISP) in Shanghai, China. JISP is China’s only biennial of public art, with Urban Fox the only commissioned work.
  • Under the Baobab, London, 2012

    Under the Baobab stood 15metres tall, next to Waterloo bridge in London. Made with the Masters students of Textile Design at Chelsea College of the Arts (now University of London), the 31 students from 24 countries created 20m of fabric each to represent their migration to London. The resulting work became a colourful icon for peace and community.
  • Urban Fox, Southbank Centre, 2011

    Urban Fox, commissioned by Cathy Mager in 2011, captured people’s imaginations, finding its way into the New York Times, James Bond’s Skyfall and elsewhere. The work symbolized what it meant to be British in 2011, 60 years on from the 1951 Festival of Britain.