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The Empty Plinth at Berkeley Library in Trinity
Have you ever noticed this empty plinth in the grounds of Trinity College in Dublin?
What's it for? How did it get there?
We are running a competition called Badly Designed Dublin #badlydesigneddublin in collaboration with Badly Made Books for Dublin Design Night. Sometimes the best way to illustrate the value of design is by looking at 'bad' design. If something irks us, or seems off, then there's probably a design reason for it. And so we see 'bad design' as being full of amazing potential to have conversations about design and make us think about how a design can be improved or re-worked to make it functional or more practical.
The prize is a €150 voucher and your image on the cover of a special edition of notebooks handmade by Badly Made Books. Read here for more information on the competition.
Now, back to this plinth, which most people think is a crudely made or unfinished bench....not so!
The plinth was erected for the inaugural Henry Moore exhibition at Trinity College in 1969 and housed one of Moore's own favourite sculptures 'Two Seated Figures' or 'The King and Queen' as it became known. The sculpture belonged to the artist and was on loan to Trinity for the exhibition only. Moore wasn't happy with the site for the sculpture because he felt that there was a conflict with the forecourt lanterns and because there was not enough sunlight on the north facing forecourt.
However, the sculpture was left there for several years after the exhibition, the heads in Trinity even hoped the artist may have forgotten about it. No such luck though, Moore removed the sculpture a few years later and the plinth has been empty ever since!
We would love to hear from you if you have similar stories, or questions, about a piece of design in Dublin. Tweet us your images of #badlydesigneddublin to @wearedesignist or email us hello@designist.ie
