Artistic Engineering or Engineered Art?

The words “Art” and “Engineering” do not often appear together in the same sentence.  Some would say there is a fair degree of ignorance, distrust and skepticism between the two schools of thought.  No better example of this is the rather unfair joke circulating engineering lecture theatres: “What did the Arts graduate say to the Engineering graduate?”  Answer – “Do you want fries with that?”

Jokes aside, when you step back from both fields to view the bigger picture, it becomes readily apparent that most of the great achievements of civilization have hefty doses of art mixed with science/engineering.  The great craftsmen of old were both artist and engineer, creating works which were at once beautiful and well designed, timeless in both fashion and longevity.

A recent meeting of members of these two differing fraternities occurred in Perth last year, in preparation for a project to be located in the remote town of Port Headland. In mid-2009, artist Jahne Rees of Scape-ism approached Reid’s Western Australian office with drawings for an “Entry Statement” sculpture comprised of two rings; one of steel, the other of reinforced concrete. The brief described the concrete ring being poured on its’ side in Perth then transported to Port Headland, and requested advice on how this could be done, what lifting devices would be required, and where the lifting systems should be located so as to avoid damage to this slender, curved 16 tonne reinforced concrete element.