Internationally famous artist invests in Sheffield craftsmanship for Venice Biennale
When British Nigerian Artist Yinka Shonibare CBE RA was looking to realise his idea for the 2024 Venice Biennale he naturally turned to his collaborator of 26 years, Anthony Bennett, based at Yorkshire Artspace in Sheffield, UK.
Image Courtesy of Stephen Freidman Gallery
Over the last 6 months Shonibare, Bennett and the team at Yorkshire Artspace have collaborated to produce Shonibare’s extraordinary artwork Monument to the Restitution of the Mind and Soul. At this year’s Nigeria Pavilion, visitors will experience 160 terracotta ceramic objects of astonishing detail displayed on a 4-metre tall stepped ziggurat pyramid, all painstakingly produced and finished by a team of artists and makers at Yorkshire Artspace, which provides studios for 170 of Sheffield’s artists and makers.
Bennett has always been concerned to pass on his own technical skills. To achieve the project, he brought together a team of 26 people from Sheffield and South Yorkshire, collectively known as ‘Benibare Studio’. An additional four sculptors from the Cotswolds contributed 26 objects to the finished piece. The Sheffield team, both young and old, some highly skilled and some novices, worked collaboratively and convivially in the Benibare Studio at Yorkshire Artspace. The team encompassed a diversity of expertise found in this unique place, taking in design, sculpture, ceramics, set works, steel fabrication and digital skills and technologies.
The ceramic objects themselves are highly detailed copies of a selection of artefacts in the collection of the British Museum in London, collectively known as ‘The Benin Bronzes’. Terracotta clay reproductions of these contested and much-debated objects were sculpted by hand. Once dried and fired, each ceramic object was digitally scanned, scaled and then 3D printed to create a 1:5 scale model of the artwork and its pyramid display. These smaller objects facilitated the final scheme for the full-size pieces destined for Venice.
All of the ceramic objects were fired at Yorkshire Artspace’s Kiln Yard, a gas firing kiln facility in the heart of Sheffield. At this year’s Venice Biennale, hundreds of thousands of art fans will have the opportunity to marvel at Shonibare’s astonishing work, and without realizing it, experience a unique example of Sheffield craftsmanship and collaboration.
Anthony Bennett commented that: “out of these old cultural issues will come new cultural initiatives, partnerships and opportunities to pass on making skills to others”.
Georgina Kettlewell, Director of Yorkshire Artspace, added: “We’re a centre for art production in a city of skilled contemporary artists and makers. We’re proud of the talent based in our studios and of our creative facilities. I’m delighted that Anthony Bennett and Yinka Shonibare CBE RA wanted to work with Yorkshire Artspace to realise this extraordinary project and draw on the wealth of talent here in Sheffield. They are creating new opportunities for people to develop and apply their creative skill.”