Nigel Hall Gravity/ Levity

To coincide with Nigel Hall’s exhibition Here and Now, There and Then (16 November 2024 to 3 March 2025), Gravity/Levity (2015), is temporarily installed on the Devonshire Quarter Plaza.

The 5-meter high, magenta steel sculpture was commissioned by London’s Kensington and Chelsea Council in 2015 for the public space linking the Aldridge Academy school with Kensington Leisure Centre. A much-loved landmark to the local community for whom it is known affectionately as the ‘Giant Pink Paperclip’, the sculpture particularly resonated with pupils at the Academy who responded to the vibrant colour and its inviting curves. In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy in 2017 and the subsequent protection of the site, the sculpture was moved into temporary storage whilst the local residents lead on finding it a new home. The loan of the sculpture to Towner Eastbourne is fully supported by the community.

The title of the sculpture describes the lightness of being, in contrast to the continual gravitational pull of the body back to the ground. The ellipses that form the sculpture, tightly grouped at the base, appear to be let loose as two of their number thrust upwards in a release of energetic drive. Hall says “my work has always involved a consistent attempt to resist the pull of gravity.”