Jakub Szczesny & Kaja Pawelek, Banksia Tower (2011)
Artists: Jakub Szczesny & Kaja Pawelek
Work: Banksia Tower (2011)
Partner: Community Arts Network WA, Arts Narrogin & C.Y. O'Connor Institute of TAFE
Location: Narrogin, Western Australia
Conceived by Polish architect and artist, Jakub Szczesny, and curator, Kaja Pawelek, Banksia Tower is a proposal for a major public artwork for the town of Narrogin at the now largely abandoned railway yards. Once the heart of Narrogin (employing some 600 people), and still a central site, the artists identified the old railway yards as a significant location for the tower; a place for people to come together and engage in a creative revitalisation initiative.
Inspired by Australia's native banksia flower, the 18-metre viewing tower is conceived as an interactive and functional artwork with an exterior of brush-like clumps of polyester 'hair' that move in response to passing cars and visitors. A model of the tower, animations and a prototype that demonstrated the tower's responsive skin were publicly presented to the township and form the basis of a proposal to the Shire of Narrogin to undertake the realisation of this public artwork.
