IF it looks like it something from another world, that’s because it is.
Standing five metres tall, ripe with “strange fruit” and inspired by mathematics, this multi-coloured tree at Edinburgh Waverley Station is part of an imaginary world made real.
Created by Charles Avery, from Mull, the temporary installation is part of the flora of the fictional island at the centre of his art and has been cast in bronze as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival (EAF).
The design may be familiar to fans of Avery’s work, as it has previously appeared in his depictions of the imaginary realm in his on-going project The Islanders as one of the metal trees found in Jadindagadendar, the main municipal park in the island’s biggest town, Onomatopoeia.
To those unfamiliar with the 42-year-old, the piece, which features 163 coloured acrylic rods and is based on mathematical data including the Fibonacci sequence and the square root of two, will act as an unmissable meeting place by platform two for the duration of the festival.
The commission, created as part of the EAF’s “Improbable City” programme, is the first official meeting point for the Network Rail-operated terminus, which was chosen as the location because it is the only station in the world named after a fictional novel – Waverley, by Sir Walter Scott. Craig Bowman, Network Rail senior communications manager, said: “It’s very unusual. It’s certainly going to catch the eye.
“People are going up to peer at it and touch it and get their own sense of what it is. From a practical point of view, it’s a very good place for it because people arrive at that point from other parts of the UK.
“We are pleased to be part of the festival atmosphere. It makes great use of that space in the east of the station and will add a bit of colour and character to the daily commute.”
The sculpture took six months to produce and it will be left open during the day.
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