H_Edge | Balmond Studio

Following the huge popularity of its appearance at the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence, the dynamic sculpture H_Edge is being exhibited in the UK for the first time. As part of the ongoing Bishop’s Square public sculpture programme curated by Dickson Russell, H_Edge now appears in a fascinating, bespoke configuration in the reflecting pool opposite the Allen & Overy building in Spitalfields, London.
The work offers a unique view of Cecil Balmond’s world of diverse shapes and forms. By day H_Edge echoes its environment in an expansive reverberation of light and colour. By night, illumination transforms the same location into an otherworldly place; its complexity creating a chiaroscuro effect against the surrounding darkness.

H_Edge is assembled using thousands of ‘x’-shaped aluminium plates which are held, one above the other, in tension by stainless steel chains. Blurring the boundaries between art and structure, layers of silver planes form an ethereal, metallic, installation that visitors are free to walk around, within and through.
For Balmond, H_Edge is more than an art installation, ‘Conceived from a deep inner logic, H_Edge embodies concepts of nothing and everything; infinity and zero, creating a powerful experience that resonates with our primal affinity with space and form,’ he explains. Constructed by Balmond Studio’s in-house team of specialists, H_Edge generates a new dimension within the city; a non-space; for contemplation and reflection.

Having lived in London for over 40 years, Balmond has a close affinity with the city, and the placement of H_Edge in Spitalfields holds a special significance for him, ‘H_Edge has been in many countries in different shapes but it thrills me to have the installation in my home town - London!’