Find the Portavilion in Your Park

portavilion is public art in london photo

Watch out in the park--these little houses keep popping up all over this summer. Portavilion is a public art project that plunks specially designed pavilions by famous artists into four parks across central London. The project is a celebration of London's glorious parks as important sites of stimulation, recreation and inspiration. The artists had full range of creation but their building had to respond and connect to the park environment and acknowledge the importance of urban green spaces. The Primrose Hill portavilion (pictured) is a wooden structure which is influenced by the wind-swept slopes of this park where many people come to fly kites. The small building is made of wood, with geometrically-shaped bent walls and an off-kilter roof that looks like it is being blown away. The artist likes to create structures and spaces that serve no specific function; they offer a physical experience and a chance to talk and make chance encounters with a stranger.

It helps to engage the passers-by if the artworks are fun and inter-active in some way. One structure is a small moveable cinema that seats six and is towed around on wheels to different locations in Regent Park. It is showing films of the history, activities and secrets of the park. Fashionable Holland Park gets the most fashionable artist, Dan Graham. His piece features glass and mirrors that the public can walk through and is influenced by the position of the sun. :: Portavilion

More on Public Art
:: National Theatre Goes Green
:: National Theatre Goes Brown
:: Chicago's Wildflowers
:: Art or an Environmental Statement