Sitting on History - Milton Keynes, London - Abstract Public Sculptures on Waymarking.com

'Sitting on History' was originally designed for an exhibition at the Tate Gallery, London in 1996. Bill Woodrow's idea was to create a sculpture that functioned as a seat and was only complete when a person sat on it. 'Sitting on History', with its ball and chain refers to the book as captor of information from which we cannot escape. History is filtered through millions of pages of writing, making the book the major vehicle for years of research and study. Woodrow proposes that although we absorb this knowledge, we appear to have great difficulty in changing our behaviour as a result.

The books from which the original maquette of the sculpture was made came from a box of books given to the artist by a London bookseller, discarded as no longer saleable. To Woodrow's wry amusement, the case contained three volumes on the history of the Labour party, which he used for his maquettes. Here in Milton Keynes the sculpture is suitably sited outside a bookshop. A further version of the sculpture is installed in the British Museum.

Bill Woodrow is a highly respected sculptor who has exhibited widely in Britain ad abroad since graduating from Chelsea School of Art in 1971. His early sculptures were made from materials found in dumps, used car lots and scrap yards, which he cut, altered and placed in new relationships to create new forms, metaphors and stories. In the late 1980s he began to work in bronze but retained the storytelling aspect of his work.
His sculpture 'Regardless of History' was exhibited on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in 2000.

Title: Sitting on History Artist: Bill Woodrow Media (materials) used: Bronze Location (specific park, transit center, library, etc.): Shopping Center Date of creation or placement: 1996

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