Shopping
Trolley Arch
Commissioned by Parramatta Council
The trolley arch is a favourite because it worked and it provides a reference point for how difficult something can be.
I was commissioned by Parramatta Council to make a work for the “Riverbeats” Festival and after looking at the site, which was the Parramatta River, and noticing the inevitable abandoned shopping trolleys in the water I began to sketch some ideas.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge has been a delight and inspiration to me since I first saw it on my first day in Australia and one of the most dramatic photographs (and paintings) of the bridge construction is of the partly completed arch. The north and south arch cantilevered from the shore with the gap between them has real excitement. And made of shopping trolleys. Hilarious! What a great idea.
In order to move from drawings to the thing itself, I borrowed (and eventually returned) a couple of trolleys from the supermarket. My idea was to join the trolleys with the minimum of visual impact so that they appeared to flow outward and upward by themselves. By mocking up with the real thing I realised that the trolleys were not designed to be structural units and this became the main discussion – visual versus structure. I found that I could position two or three trolleys with a minimum of extra bits but I wanted to use twelve. With the help of a structural engineer, I designed a frame. The engineer calculated how much weight I would need to hold the whole thing up (two or three times my vague thoughts).
Each side was assembled in Lithgow and taken to Parramatta where the Council had arranged for concrete blocks to be placed as anchors. A crane hoisted each piece into position, the tie back cables were attached and tensioned, the crane lowered and released and the arch stayed where it was supposed to.
The Council arranged 24-hour security to stop people climbing (they did anyway) and 10 days later we pulled it down.
Apart from people who worked with me on the actual arch I commissioned Fullerton Design to make a series of embroidered souvenirs and Anna Cullerton at Lithgow Pottery to make plates. I made the key rings.