{"id":228926,"date":"2025-09-15T14:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T14:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/228926\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T14:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T14:33:09","slug":"i-always-wondered-what-it-would-be-like-up-there-artist-paul-cocksedge-on-his-nelsons-eye-view-of-london-art-and-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/228926\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I always wondered what it would be like up there\u2019: artist Paul Cocksedge on his Nelson\u2019s-eye view of London | Art and design"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artist Paul Cocksedge is beaming from ear to ear in Trafalgar Square. It\u2019s installation day for the sculpture he\u2019s created for this year\u2019s London<\/a> design festival and, like the many other visitors to one of the capital\u2019s best known public spaces, he\u2019s enjoying the sunshine.<\/p>\n

His new work \u2013 What Nelson Sees \u2013 looks good in the bright light. The fused bundle of weathered steel industrial pipes is eye-catchingly at odds with the grand fountains, statues and Victorian pomp of the massive bronze lions. But this sculpture is completely site-specific: press a play button and look into one of the eyepieces embedded into three of the five pipes and you see images of the surrounding city from the viewpoint of naval commander Horatio Nelson\u2019s statue 45m up in the sky. Keep watching and the eyepiece plays a film which runs through AI-generated imagery of the view since before Nelson\u2019s Column was first erected and then goes on into a possible future of pedestrianised streets and rooftops covered in hydroponics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in London,\u201d Cocksedge says, \u201cand I always looked at Nelson\u2019s solitary figure and wondered what it would be like up there. I\u2019ve got sketchbooks going back to when I was a teenager full of ideas about how seeing that view could be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI-generated imagery \u2026 What Nelson Sees. Photograph: Mark Cocksedge<\/p>\n

Many of Cocksedge\u2019s artworks plough this slightly eccentric furrow: concepts that come from a childlike imagination but realised with exceptional craftsmanship and engineering skills. His piece Coalescence<\/a> consists of 2,500 pieces of anthracite \u2013 suspended like a starburst \u2013 which represent the amount of coal needed to power a continuously burning lightbulb for a year. The Bourrasque<\/a> series is inspired by light playing on airborne sheets of paper. The spectacle of magically floating paper is delightful (fashion brand Dior now has the artwork permanently installed in their Avenue Montaigne boutique in Paris), but the simple idea can only be achieved using hi-tech materials powered by an electric current.<\/p>\n

For What Nelson Sees, Cocksedge collaborated with Google to create a mainly AI film of Nelson\u2019s field of view from when the column was first erected in the 1840s. Each scene \u2013 from the Blitz through the swinging 1960s to a future landscape adapted for London\u2019s ageing population \u2013 is created using meticulous written prompts to ensure historical accuracy and to reflect statistically probable outcomes from research.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnology had to be part of the work so it felt the right moment for me to experiment,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s very different to my art college days when you had paint and canvas, but I\u2019ve got a four-year-old daughter and an almost 80-year-old dad \u2013 I want him to see the city change and I want her to see what the past was like. How else could I do that?\u201d<\/p>\n

This whimsical creativity has a clear purpose. Cocksedge\u2019s optimistic vision of London\u2019s future is based on research from experts in climate change and urban planning. \u201cDo you know, in Paris food production is 60% local, whereas in London it\u2019s only 3%? That\u2019s why in the future, we created hydroponics and a much greener city.\u201d<\/p>\n

The artist believes that public art can be a great way to engage a diverse audience with issues, especially those who don\u2019t often visit galleries.<\/p>\n

This piece isn\u2019t finished until I see people gazing through the sculpture \u2013 their bodies are the last ingredient<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMy background is working class and my entry point into creativity came very late on. Looking around Trafalgar Square I can see people from different backgrounds interacting with things and that\u2019s great to me. I\u2019m so excited that you can use design to create open situations where you can reach more people and deal with quite important issues in an engaging way. This piece isn\u2019t finished until I see three people gazing through the sculpture \u2013 their bodies are the last ingredient.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the site of many protests, celebrations and rallies over the years, Trafalgar Square has seen all sorts of engagement between different factions, but Cocksedge is still optimistic. \u201cI\u2019m very aware of the challenges this city has. This square is a place that\u2019s always charged. But we keep on going even if it feels dicey. I think London will cope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day, I head down to the installation\u2019s technical test with Elizabeth Dellert, head of development for the festival. Even in the brief time I\u2019m there, about 20 passersby stop to peer into the eyepieces or touch the pipe structure curiously. A businessman whose meeting has been cancelled due to the transport strikes stops to ask about the sculpture. It turns out that he runs a mentoring service inspired by Nelson\u2019s leadership strategy. A conversation instantly starts with Dellert, who studied history, about the influence of military infrastructure on business hierarchy, team loyalty and how Lady Emma Hamilton, Nelson\u2019s mistress, deserves recognition.<\/p>\n

Watching tourists and locals pause at the sculpture and listening to this spontaneous conversation, I thought back to my conversation with Cocksedge and how his piece wouldn\u2019t be finished until people \u2013 the missing ingredient \u2013 were there. I wished he\u2019d been there to see this moment when it finally became complete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artist Paul Cocksedge is beaming from ear to ear in Trafalgar Square. It\u2019s installation day for the sculpture…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":228927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[648,1032,1033,171,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-228926","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115208808297112905","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}