Articulated Opposites

Some art installations need explaining. In this case, both the title and the abstract art may have you scratching your head!

Articulated Opposites sits outside a building formerly known as Swan House and now called 55 Degrees North, which is the latitude bearing of Newcastle. It is the end of Mosley Street which was the first street to be lit by incandescent light.

Articulated Opposites was commissioned by Newcastle City Council and installed in 1969. This was a period of demolishing old buildings and building multi-story buildings. Infamous Council Leader T Dan Smith had suggested this tribute to Sir Joseph Swan.

In 2002 it was moved to its current position after the building was refurbished.

Its design is an abstract form of the incandescent electric light developed by one of Newcastle's Heroes, Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828 to 1914) who was a chemist, physicist, and inventor.

The artist who created Articulated Opposites was Raymond Arnatt (1934 to 2004) who came from Oxon and earned a First Class Honours Degree from the Royal College of Art. He taught art in Oxford then in Berkshire he set up a metal casting foundry so that large bronze works could be created and research into direct metal casting could be investigated.

The Ray Arnatt website said:

"When studying the properties of light, scientists discovered that you can measure the position or its velocity, you can't measure both at the same time. The outcome was the recognition that those are not properties of light, but the properties of our interaction with it. Now I have always thought this was incredibly insightful and profound."

Mr Arnatt moved to Canada in the 1970s and died there.

I think you can see/imagine parts of a lightbulb, for example the filaments. Semi hemispheres is a new term for me and refers to the half-tennis ball-looking piece.

Can any readers please explain the sloping piece? That and the name Articulated Opposites has me puzzled; Our Fabulous North friend Jos pointed out that articulated means joints in this composition.

It has some rough and some smooth surfaces, and the sloping piece has been rubbed so it shines, I wonder if residents have been sliding down it! The larger pieces are hollow bronze and I love the way bronze oxidises. It has unfortunately suffered from vandalism and was repaired in the 1990s. Now you can see unsightly scratchings.

I had asked a few organisations/societies if they could shed any more light on this art installation. Ben and one of his colleagues from The Lit and Phil found a description in the book 'Public Sculpture of North-East England' by Paul Usherwood et. al. It describes the piece as a:

"visual analogy of Sir Joseph's invention the electric filament light."

The book states that some of the pieces were painted gold which has now worn off and it sat on an oval concrete 'pool' that used to be lit and hold water, now removed.

There was a statuette of Joseph Swan by Arnatt on the wall but has gone; a news item suggested stolen!

Now back a bit of history on the inspiration for this artwork. You may have heard of Thomas Edison (1847-1931) and thought he invented the light bulb, as many sources state. However Wikipedia states:

"Thomas Edison established the Edison Electric Light Company in 1878. Joseph Swan established the Swan United Electric Light Company in 1881. Swan sued Edison in the UK, claiming patent infringement; this was upheld by the British courts. In 1882, Edison sued Swan, claiming infringement of his 1879 U.S. patent; however, the Edison Company believed their case would be jeopardized if Swan could demonstrate prior research and publication. Subsequently, to avoid uncertain and expensive litigation, the two companies negotiated a merger. The glass bulbs sold in Britain were of Swan's design, while the filaments were of Edison's."