In the opening lines of the 1966 lecture, Structure, Sign, and Play, Jacque Derrida speaks of the concept of a structure, where something has occurred that “…could be call an event.”
The ‘event,’ a thing in itself to be reduced, break down into its parts, into fragments. Each part being an event in itself, existing as the embodiment of unseen connections that define a structures existence in the world. Asking the question, ‘what is this and where has it come from, what might happen if its “exterior form” is disregarded and we look beyond the callus of formal materiality. When speaking about the sculpture Signals, Helen Escobedo articulates that she did not want to put up “…a sort of monument to somebody,” and believed “…sculpture should be functional.” Where might this function exist, does the sculpture allow you to clamber on it, does it suggest a moment to be taken on the walk up the hill, a moment to look out and question what exists beyond the interior?
Escobedo mentions three points in the documentary Four Shapes for Four Spaces, These points were the function of sculpture, sculptures relation and overlaps to the processes and outcomes of painting, and finally the notion of a shift to happenings, aware that the arts do not need to be a stagnant bronze but an event as a structure in itself.
In taking time to engage, there is potential for a moment to be captured again. Within my own inquiry of the structure that is Signals, the sculpture can be understood as an “event” comprised of many parts, its conception extends past its locality in terms of material ontology, its conception can be questioned based on it’s primary sponsor being Comalco (N.Z.) Ltd, what signals does it continue to emit? Now, in this moment, fifty years since the event of its installation, this sculpture is part of a continually shifting time scale.
What is the definition or meaning associated to a / this structure, and how might a ‘functional’ sculpture’s meaning shift over time, can there be a fixed locality when questioning a structure?
What is this notion of function? Aesthetic function, physical function, is function defined as the aiding of an action, an action of questioning?
The sculpture in question is located at the corner of Gladstone Road, Parnell, a peninsula that once defined the original foreshore, currently known as Fred Ambler Lookout. It is a site with a complex and layered history, one that continues to unfold in time. As a landmark it holds particular significance to several iwi, including claims by Ngāti Paoa Iwi Trust, Marutūāhu Rōpū Limited Partnership and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Trust. The site is currently named after the civil servant and businessman Fred Ambler who was was awarded the title of ‘Ordinary Officer of the Civil Division to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire’ as part of the New Year Honours in 1957/8. The Hokataka trees flanking the grass field where the sculpture Signals stands seem to have been planted as part of this dedication.
These histories are significant in themselves and are relevant to this project as ontological extensions, but these histories are not the area of direct focus of this particular project. It is important to acknowledge this site as a landmark that holds various meanings to a variety of parties, each who define and care for it in just as many ways. Evidently, this site is in a continued state of flux, it’s significance changing and developing over a period of time.
Derrida, J. (1966) Structure, Sign, and Play (In Writing and Difference (1978), Trans. Alan Bass) University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 278
https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/2018/sc_jdg_1709.pdf (Accessed 14-1-2021)
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/40962/supplement/45 (Accessed (23-5-2021)