The Remnants (March 2022 – March 2023), an installation of six large-scale clay columns inspired by traditional architectural practices in Chile, by Swedish-Chilean artist Anton Alvarez opens today at 100 Bishopsgate.

The exhibition, a commission by Brookfield Properties, follows Alvarez’s month-long pop-up studio and performance space, also at 100 Bishopsgate, where the artist created the sculptures using his self-built ceramic press, The Extruder, in full view of the public. Reflecting the artist’s two-part process, the sculptures are the remnants of the performance that preceded them, giving audiences a rare opportunity to follow the creation of a contemporary art installation from start to finish.

Saff Williams, Curatorial Director at Brookfield Properties, said: “I was blown away by the monumentalism of Anton’s sculptures when I first saw his Tight Squeeze show. I wanted to commission an installation at 100 Bishopsgate which interrupted our large reception area and question the openness of our architecture by putting the columns back into our space. Anton’s work, which is inspired by architectural practices, was the perfect complement to our own monumentalism.”

As part of the commission, Alvarez developed bespoke new pieces for The Extruder to enable the creation of the six sculptures, responding to the voluminous size of the reception area at 100 Bishopsgate, where the works are exhibited. The new, ten-tonne-strong, 50 centimeters wide version of the Extruder allows for larger quantities of clay to be pushed out.

The six sculptures were created by reappropriating clay that was used for artworks at the artist’s Roman Toothpaste MMXXI show at Vandalorum in Sweden. Alvarez ground down old sculptures and used the reformed clay to create the new works. Each column consists of between four and seven pieces of unfired clay sections stacked on top of each other, which the artist spray-painted in the premises in his vibrant palette of yellow, pink, bright blue, cream, lilac and orange.

The project marks a significant development in Alvarez’s practice, with the artist planning to reappropriate the six works comprising The Remnants by grinding them down again and reusing the clay for future exhibitions – a practice he may potentially be able to be repeat indefinitely, meaning his sculptures can be reborn multiple times.

Alongside the new works, created especially for Brookfield Properties, a curated selection of smaller fired clay sculptures is also on show, representing the artist’s different facets of working with The Extruder.

Williams, added: “With this project, we took our artistic programming further, giving the public an opportunity to both access an exhibition for free but also get a behind the scenes look into its creation – the pop-up workshop is a perfect reflection of Anton’s process and the performative nature of his work but also enabled the creation of works inspired by his immediate environment.”

Alvarez, said: “It’s been a great experience to connect with the audience through this project. Producing the exhibition in the same place it will be shown gave me greater artistic license – by creating the works on-site I was able to go up in scale and create works that would have been impossible to transport had they been extruded somewhere else. The commission also allowed me to try and trial a new technique of grinding down old sculptures and reusing the clay for new ones, which I will be revisiting in the future.”