Great Art
for Great Places

CAS Consultancy has been working with artist Kenny Hunter, Lendlease and Southwark Council to realise a new memorial for Southwark. It takes pride of place in Elephant and Castle’s new public space – Walworth Square. The memorial’s contemporary design depicts an anonymous 12-year-old youth standing on a giant, fallen ash tree. It bears the inscription “Against the armour of the storm I’ll hold my human barrier” – a line from a World War Two poem by Hamish Henderson.
The striking bronze artwork has been installed in the year that marks the centenary of the Armistice and the end of the First World War. The sculpture has been commissioned to commemorate all the lives that have been affected by war and conflict around the globe, including the lives of members of the armed forces, civilians, refugees and others.
The Southwark Memorial project began two years ago, with artist Albert Potrony and curator Vivienne Reiss commissioned to develop an articulation of local people’s interests in commemoration and the role of the memorial in society today. A series of workshops and events with community groups was instigated by Potrony and fed into the ambitions for the memorial. Kenny Hunter was appointed as the memorial artist by a steering group comprising the Leader of the Council, Imperial War Museum curators, the Royal Society of Arts and an independent curator.
The sculpture was unveiled in November 2018 at a thought-provoking dedication event, which included addresses from the Mayor of Southwark, Lendlease, community groups from throughout the borough and the artist.
 

The Fata Morgana Teahouse and Pixel Wall, two artworks by artists Wolfgang Winter and Berthold Hörbelt, comprise the second permanent commission to be realised for the North West Cambridge Development.
The artists worked with masterplanners AECOM to provide a creative perspective on the overall landscape development of the Western Edge. The idea of a journey became an important focus for the artists and the Anglo Saxon poem ‘The Wanderer’ provided inspiration. The Wanderer moves about without destination or purpose, open to perceptions of the surroundings, views, sounds, and smells. The journey triggers an internal process of reflection and contemplation – inspired directly from the place and the moment.
Winter and Hörbelt have established in their practice a deep understanding of how public space can be a place for everyone, including those who may not have any interest in public art at all.
The two works offer multiple readings. They are social spaces, landmarks or contemporary garden follies. They are testament to the ordinariness of mass-produced materials or can simply be admired as spectacular feats of engineering and making. Looking through a steel grid mesh or at a pixelated mirror surface, our perception of the landscape is refracted and dissected. From distant views, the mirrored surface of these otherworldly structures causes them to appear and disappear in the shifting light, reflecting the landscape and being absorbed into it.
At the heart of the work is the idea that the sculptures are places where people can meet, be, experience. This is a central aim for the Western Edge of Eddington – to act as an informal social realm, bringing people together for recreation, relaxation and pleasure.
Read more about North West Cambridge Public Art Strategy

In 2017 CAS Consultancy were appointed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to manage the commissioning of a memorial to British victims of terrorism overseas. The resulting artwork, ‘Still Water’ by artists Alison Wilding RA and Adam Kershaw, is a memorial composed of three elements: water, land and air. The design was developed following a public consultation which gathered views from the families of victims of terrorism overseas, and the general public.
Located at the National Memorial Arboretum, the sculpture is sited a short distance within a copse so that it might gradually reveal itself, like coming across a hidden pool within a woodland glade. It is designed to be a place of reflection for families and visitors.
Fabienne Nicholas, Head of CAS Consultancy said: “Alison Wilding is one of the UK’s most esteemed contemporary sculptors and it has been extraordinary to be involved in Alison and Adam’s process of translating these monumental moments of grief into a place where peace can be found. The memorial vividly demonstrates the power of art to express the human condition in ways that have profound meaning to all-comers”.
The memorial was installed in late 2017; a dedication event for the families affected by terrorism overseas took place at the National Memorial Arboretum in May 2018.