Photography by Charles Emerson
He’s turned a parked car upside down, unzipped a giant building, and now he’s tied a traditional British phone box into a knot. Alex Chinneck is back, transforming the streets of Bristol with new surreal sculptures that light up the night sky.
The British sculptor, renowned for his gravity-defying works and mind-bending illusions, has just completed three new public installations for Assembly Bristol. The artworks inject a playful twist into the city’s newly developed waterfront destination and are practical, too, acting as playful street lamps to help illuminate the area.
It’s what we’ve come to expect from Chinneck: art that merges with architecture, blurring the lines between the familiar and the fantastical. But this time with some definitive purpose in mind.
First, sat proudly outside ‘Building A’—home to BT’s South West hub—is a red British phone box that has been “wrung out” by the artist, twisting a full 720 degrees. This piece, titled Wring Ring, casts a familiar icon in an unexpected light, with its red metal frame spiralling and windows rippling along the warped design. It glows from within at night, adding a theatrical touch to the artwork.
Further along are two pairs of knotted lamp posts. Cast in metal with traditional detailing, the first pair is tied elegantly into a large bow, while the second intertwines in an embrace, leading the artist to call them First Kiss at Last Light. These lamp posts bring a surprising twist to everyday objects, both practical and sculptural, inviting us to look twice.
The sculptures join another of Chinneck’s signature transformations—a knotted post box on Cheese Lane, marking its re-opening as a public right of way after a 50-year closure. Positioned in front of Bristol’s historic Floating Harbour wall, this trio of sculptures links Bristol’s city centre with Temple Meads Station, bridging traditional aesthetics with modern flair.
Chinneck has long been known for “turning the everyday into the extraordinary” whether through his floating Covent Garden illusion, melting houses, or unzipping building facades.
His work invites us into the imagination, turning street furniture into conversation-starting sculptures that evoke wonder. “I see sculpture as the physical reinterpretation of the material world around us,” he explains. “By introducing fictional narratives into familiar scenarios, I try to make everyday situations as extraordinary as they can be.”
With each project, Chinneck finds new ways to transform the urban landscape, showing the power of public art. His Bristol installations are sure to attract curious onlookers, charming them with their playful design and imaginative craftsmanship.
This latest venture joins his impressive portfolio of public sculptures, which include a giant zipper revealing a building façade in Milan and an arching road seemingly suspending a car mid-air along London’s Southbank.