Kate Newby, Hours in Wind, 2024
showing at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace
29 August 2024 to 4 September 2025
Hours in wind unfolds across three locations at the MCA: the entrance, a space on Level 2 and the Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace on Level 4. Made from locally sourced and recycled shipping and sailing ropes, cast bronze, and cast and hand-blown glass, Newby’s installation navigates thresholds between interior and exterior space. It captures a sense of place and the constantly changing conditions of the harbour, including unpredictable weather patterns and the shifting light.
“I wanted to work with materials that were all somehow activated by the conditions of the site. So, the glass will refract light and change depending on the time of day or night. The rope will swing in the wind, the bronze will patina and oxidise with the salt air and the rope will cast different shadows depending on the time of day. I liked the idea of a project that would change over time. Working with these materials allows for some transformation. It will feel very different on a cloudy or rainy day, or on a clear night. In a way, the weather conditions are as much a part of the work as the bronze, rope or glass.”
– Kate Newby
Newby was born in 1979 in T?maki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand and is currently based in Texas, US. She is known for sculptures and installations made from materials including glass and ceramics, as well as site-responsive works and architectural interventions. Attentive to natural phenomena such as light, wind and other weather conditions, Newby often blurs distinctions between public and private, and interior and exterior space in her works.
Commissioned by Kate Newby for Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney
Fabricated by Annette Blair and Tom Rowney
Materials: cast glass, hot-worked glass, bronze, salvaged rope
Project completed: 2024
Kate Newby and her installation Hours in wind, 2024, cast glass, hot-worked glass, bronze, salvaged rope, commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia with support from Lead Patrons Ginny and Leslie Green, 2024, image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia © the artist, photograph: Zan Wimberly
Kate Newby, Hours in wind, 2024 (detail)
Kate Newby, Hours in wind (detail), 2024, cast glass, hot-worked glass, bronze, salvaged rope, commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia with support from Lead Patrons Ginny and Leslie Green, 2024, image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia © the artist, photograph: Zan Wimberly
Kate Newby, Hours in Wind, 2024 (detail)
Kate Newby, Hours in wind (detail), 2024, cast glass, hot-worked glass, bronze, salvaged rope, commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia with support from Lead Patrons Ginny and Leslie Green, 2024, image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia © the artist, photograph: Zan Wimberly