As the 14th edition of Clerkenwell Design Week opens its doors to design and architecture enthusiasts in London’s EC1, Marta Bogna-Drew meets British sculptor Alex Chinneck to discuss his latest commission: A Week at the Knees. Installed in the historic grounds of Charterhouse Square, the artwork presents a four-storey brick façade that appears to fold in on itself- an architectural illusion that playfully challenges gravity and expectation. Echoing his earlier ‘sliding house’ in Margate, Chinneck’s new ‘rippling building’ engages with the surrounding Georgian architecture while pushing the boundaries of material and form.
Created in collaboration with Chiltern GRC, Cleveland Steel, Crittall Windows, Fabspeed, and Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC, the installation was constructed using 320 metres of repurposed steel and bespoke bending bricks, doors, and windows—testament to the artist’s ongoing fascination with sculptural subversion and technical precision. Available to see (free) until late June (we advise checking the website as dates are currently tbc).
You’ve described your installations as “architectural performances”. How does ‘A Week at the Knees’ continue / evolve your exploration of architecture as a narrative medium?
My new rippling building is an evolution one of my earliest public artworks, ‘From the knees of my nose to the belly of my ties’, which created the illusion that the façade of a three storey house in Margate had ‘slipped’ into the front garden.
The most obvious distinction between them is that the new work is a free standing sculpture, whereas the [ Margate] sliding house was attached to a derelict building. However ‘A week at the knees’ is technically more sophisticated in every way. It also offers a more immersive experiences for audiences, who can walk directly beneath and behind the sculpture, enjoying it from multiple angles.
Why is it called ‘A week at the knees’?
It’s a reference to the sculptural form and anthropomorphic quality of the artwork, which looks as though a building is reclining with its ‘knees’ up. I like the idea that the house is relaxing, hence the ‘week at’ as if it’s on holiday.
My original sliding house was called ‘From the knees of my nose to the belly of my toes’ so I enjoyed the re-use of ‘knees’. It’s for Clerkenwell Design Week so the work ‘week’ felt right.
I like to borrow from well-known phrases to lend the work a playful familiarity. Basically, with my projects, I chuck a load of thoughts in the title pot and hopefully cook up a name that feels right.
This piece draws inspiration from the Georgian façades of Charterhouse Square. What drew you to this particular site, and how did its architectural language shape your design?
The project is the result of an invitation by Clerkenwell Design Week to create an installation for their event, which attracts around 40,000 visitors over 3 days.
Charterhouse Square is a beautiful, green space in the heart of Clerkenwell surrounded by a variety of historic and contemporary buildings dating from the 14th century onward. I particularly enjoy the row of Georgian houses that face onto it, in one corner, and the sculpture borrows elements of each.
Your work is known for transforming everyday architecture into moments of surrealism and wonder. In an age increasingly dominated by digital and AI-generated environments, what does it mean to you to create tangible, real-world interventions like ‘A Week at the Knees’?
My work engages a broad spectrum of people of all ages and backgrounds, brought together by shared sense of curiosity and wonder. As an artist, it’s really satisfying to be able to witness those encounters with and around the work, as opposed to them happening online somewhere.
Much of your work engages with public space in a way that’s both playful and subversive. How do you think ‘A week at the knees’ will resonate with audiences encountering it as part of Clerkenwell Design Week’s urban fabric? What would like the public to take away from it?
I hope that my work offers a moment of playful escapism from the everyday and also that it opens up a sense of possibility, particularly for younger audiences.
We live in an increasingly digital, risk averse and highly surveilled world, where it can often feel like the safest thing do is to stay in and do nothing. My work is a kind of act of defiance against that. Like Clerkenwell Design Week, it’s an invitation to explore and engage with the material world – Charterhouse Square is a wonderful place to do that.
Your earlier works – like the unzipping building in Milan, the upside down pylon in Greenwich Peninsula, and the melting house in Covent Garden – garnered enormous public attention. How do you balance spectacle with artistic intention when creating such large-scale, photogenic works, that take a life of their own on social media?
My work treads a careful and considered line between sculpture and stunt. I think some projects in the past have got that balance wrong and leaned too heavily on spectacle over contextual sensitivity and sculptural refinement. Public appeal and critical acclaim are tricky things to merge but I pursue a path of ‘accessible quality’ and hope for the best.
The important consideration is that this is my natural practice and these are the works I want to make. I don’t conceive them to be popular but do design them to successfully resonate with a place and the people that visit them.
Looking ahead, how do you see the relationship between architecture, AI, and sustainability evolving in your future projects? Do you see your practice evolving to incorporate – or push back against – AI technologies?
My latest sculpture has been designed with the future in mind. It incorporates 4.6 tonnes of repurposed steel, salvaged by Cleveland Steel from the former American Embassy in London, reducing the carbon footprint of the project by circa 9.3Tonnes of CO2. The bespoke Crittall windows are made with high grade recycled steel. The whole sculpture comes apart so it can be transported to other locations and hopefully have a long public life.
We live in an ever more digital world but I think there remains such an important role for tangible creations and real world interactions. AI will unquestionably offer unimaginable capabilities but I don’t see why digital evolution represents the decline of physical activations.
I will say that after 18 public artworks and one nervous breakdown, I’ve given absolutely every part of me to make my work physically exist. When people masquerade digital renders as real world creations across social media it drives me crazy. I need to get over that quickly.
All Photos: Alex Chinneck – A week at the knees – Photography by Charles Emerson
