Manifold (Major Third) 5:4, 2023, is a bronze sculpture positioned outside the Moorgate entrance of the Liverpool Street Elizabeth line station. Taking inspiration from musical harmony, Shawcross has used a machine based on the Victorian harmonograph – with its two pendulums that draw the oscillation of a sound wave – to map the complex shape of a specific piano chord that is falling into silence. Encapsulating the dynamic visual potential of harmonics, the resulting ‘drawing’ is sculpted in three dimensions using bronze to create a unique signpost at the entrance of the station.
Image: Conrad Shawcross, Manifold (Major Third) 5:4, 2023
Liverpool Street station (Elizabeth line)
Commissioned as part of The Crossrail Art Programme, 2018
© Conrad Shawcross. Courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro
Photo: GG Archard, 2023