Shelter of Hollows

Research Background Shelter of Hollows is a large-scale suspended sculpture for Macquarie's North Tower that investigates the poetics of void and hollow form through site-specific public art practice. The work connects across Martin Place station to another work Continuum by translating and transitioning geometric impossibilities—the Möbius strip and Klein bottle—into organic cavernous forms. This research engages critically with Australian modernist sculptors Margel Hinder, Tom Bass, and Lyndon Dadswell (whose works from 1964 anchor the Martin Place precinct), examining their investigations of positive/negative space, organic abstraction, and architectural relief. The cave motif functions as both material investigation and theoretical framework, drawing on architectural theory, Platonic philosophy, and feminist spatial theory to explore hollow forms as sites of generative absence. Research Significance This work advances knowledge in sculptural form by recontextualising mid-century Australian modernist concerns with void and organic abstraction for contemporary public art contexts. It contributes new methodologies for site-responsive practice that engage infrastructural transit spaces—train stations, commuter hubs—as sites for conceptual exploration rather than mere decoration. The suspended sculpture creates formal and conceptual dialogues across time, establishing intergenerational conversations about sculptural form between Dadswell, Hinder, Bass, and contemporary practice. By inverting the cave—turning it inside out—the work challenges conventional relationships between interior/exterior, presence/absence, operating as both object and inhabited space within the cavernous North Tower architecture. Research Contribution Shelter of Hollows contributes original knowledge through its material synthesis of earthen elements—ceramics, metal, glass—that reference industrial transit infrastructure while creating unexpected sculptural alchemy. The work demonstrates how geometric abstraction can morph into organic form while maintaining conceptual rigor, offering new approaches to representing temporal passage and human continuity through static sculpture. It establishes a practical model for public art that operates simultaneously as architectural intervention, historical homage, and theoretical proposition. The research validates hollow form as generative conceptual territory, proving sculptural absence can be dynamically present. This advances public art practice by showing how suspended work in commuter spaces can embody multiple temporalities—ancient (cave), historical (1960s modernism), contemporary (transit infrastructure)—creating layered meaning accessible to diverse publics.研究背景：《空穴之庇》（Shelter of Hollows）是为麦格理北塔创作的大型悬浮雕塑，通过场地特定的公共艺术实践探索虚空与空穴形态的诗学。该作品通过将几何不可能形态——莫比乌斯带（Möbius strip）与克莱因瓶（Klein bottle）——转化并过渡为有机洞穴形态，跨越马丁广场车站与另一作品《连续体》（Continuum）相连。本研究批判性地探讨澳大利亚现代主义雕塑家Margel Hinder、Tom Bass及Lyndon Dadswell（其1964年的作品是马丁广场区域的核心），分析他们对正负空间、有机抽象及建筑浮雕的探索。洞穴母题既是材料研究的对象，也是理论框架，借鉴建筑理论、柏拉图哲学（Platonic philosophy）及女性主义空间理论，将空穴形态视为生成性缺席的场域。 研究意义：本作品通过将20世纪中期澳大利亚现代主义对虚空与有机抽象的关注重新置于当代公共艺术语境中，推动了雕塑形态领域的知识发展。它为场地回应性实践提供了新方法，将交通基础设施空间（如火车站、通勤枢纽）视为概念探索的场域而非单纯的装饰空间。该悬浮雕塑跨越时间构建了形式与概念的对话，在Dadswell、Hinder、Bass与当代实践之间建立了关于雕塑形态的代际交流。通过对洞穴进行反转（由内而外），作品挑战了内外空间、存在与缺席的传统关系，在北塔的洞穴式建筑中既是客体也是可居住空间。 《空穴之庇》通过对陶瓷、金属、玻璃等土性元素的材料合成，既呼应工业交通基础设施，又创造出意想不到的雕塑炼金术，贡献了原创知识。该作品展示了几何抽象如何在保持概念严谨性的同时转化为有机形态，为通过静态雕塑表现时间流逝与人类连续性提供了新路径。它为公共艺术建立了一个实践模型，同时作为建筑干预、历史致敬与理论命题发挥作用。本研究验证了空穴形态作为生成性概念领域的价值，证明雕塑性缺席可成为动态存在。它通过展示通勤空间中的悬浮作品如何体现多重时间性（古代的洞穴、历史的1960年代现代主义、当代的交通基础设施），创造出多元公众可理解的分层意义，从而推动公共艺术实践的发展。