Sculpture, Rennes, France
December 13, 2022
Sculpture, Rennes, France
December 13, 2022
Philip King, Sculpture permanente, Rennes, France
Philip King's final major public sculpture, La Ronde de Rennes, was inaugurated in the French city of Rennes over the weekend: one of seven public artworks commissioned for stations on the newly opened Métro Ligne b.
La Ronde de Rennes, 2022, is an outdoor sculpture of brightly-coloured, abstract shapes. The interwoven elements of the work are evocative of dancing bodies, capturing the momentum and energy of choreographed movements in a fixed structure. Each component appears autonomous, yet dependent on the others, delicately balanced as if removing one piece would cause the assembly to fall.
Born in Tunis to a French Mother, King held a deep affinity to France. La Ronde de Rennes was King’s last major public work completed before his death in 2021, and his only work created for a public space in France. The sculpture can be found at the station Saint-Jacques – Gaîté, designed by architects Gouyou-Beauchamps and Pédelaborde. Other stations along the line will feature works by Jean-Marie Appriou, Isabelle Cornaro, Valentin Carron, Charles de Meaux, Camila Oliveira Fairclough, and Ugo Rondinone.
The Métro Ligne b artwork commission was funded by Rennes Métropole, le Ministère de la Culture and la Région Bretagne.