End over End

"The idea for the artwork came to me when I was playing with my kids," says Lucy McDonnell from Studio Vertigo. "The slinky is an object with an interesting history. It is one of the most simple and successful toys ever made. Further, it has also been used by NASA for physics experiments, functioned as a wartime radio antenna, and is used as an educational tool to simulate the properties of waves in classrooms." Since the first slinky went into production, more than three hundred million copies have been sold worldwide. "Apparently, this is equivalent to an excess of fifty thousand tons of wire that, if you joined up, could encircle the world over 126 times. I am not sure about the accuracy of this data, or how 'fun' this fact is when you consider the environmental impact, but it is nonetheless interesting." The playful nature of the children's toys and the stepped roofs of traditional Amsterdam canal houses were an inspiration for the work.

"It is an ordinary yet such a beautiful and sinuous form. A giant slinky descending the roof transforms the city into a virtual playground. By illuminating its coils and towering it radiantly above us, it will hopefully make us feel 'smaller'."

The idea behind the work is to disrupt the way that we usually look at things, to playfully question our role as viewers and our relationship to everyday objects and their environment. "The unusual scale and location are intended to disrupt. Yet I also hope that provoking memories of childhood play with such a fun and familiar object will help to create a dialogue between different cultures and generations."