The giant pebble at The Bridgewater Hall that may bring you luck!
On Barbirolli Square, poised above the canal basin since the opening of The Bridgewater Hall in 1996, is an 18-tonne polished Carrara marble monolith by Japanese sculptor Kan Yasuda (b.1945), made in his workshop at Pietrasanta in Italy. “Ishinki – Touchstone”, which Yasuda translates as a “form returning to its heart.”, cost £200,000, jointly paid by the Arts Council Lottery Fund, Manchester Airport and Manchester City Council.
Image credit Kan Yasuda
The handsome open space between the concert hall and the canal basin is, in many ways, an extension of the building itself and Yasuda’s “Ishinki – Touchstone” is its focus. The piece is conceived in relation to the architecture and to the water and is integral to the essential nature of the space, rather than ornamental to it.
Yasuda’s work is Japanese in its sensitivity yet European in its sense of architectural form, the play of light on the burnished surface suggesting an intense life in the marble which it cannot naturally possess. It is an object for intense contemplation – a moment of meditative silence in the heart of the city.
He feels it is vital to maintain close daily contact with fine stone and with the ancient skills of working it, so the Manchester sculpture was conceived and executed in his workshop at Pietrasanta, close to the celebrated marble quarries of Carrara.
Many of Kan Yasuda’s enormous pieces share a gravity-defying deftness which challenges common sense. The play of light on the burnished surface of this huge piece of marble makes it appear almost weightless; both fragile and massive at the same time. It is organic, yet highly ‘worked’, with a hard-won simplicity which seems accidental and yet never can be.
Manchester’s urban art strategy was being developed during the early design stages of The Bridgewater Hall, so commissioning powerful works of art, intrinsic to the design and setting of the building, was a deliberate part of its conception and a significant demonstration of the City Council’s commitment to urban art.
Rumour says touching the stone will bring you luck!