Phase 4 – Observation and Change
This page records one stage of the Complex Systems pilot at Park Community School. The pilot tests a four-phase process that informs the planned main programme.
After installation, the pilot work entered a planned six-month period of observation. Photography, notes and other records document changes in the willow, the effects of weather and the sculpture’s relationship with its surroundings and visitors.
Durational systems observation is the final phase of the pilot sequence and is still underway. The Complex Systems project overview brings the four phases together; this page records the observation diary.
Phase 4 – Observation and Change
The artwork continues beyond installation. Observers are invited to monitor and document the sculpture, alongside the artist, through photography, drawing, drone imagery, painting and observation, recording how weather, seasons and time gradually transform the willow within the ‘Ring Sheet‘. The sculpture is understood not as a finished object but as an evolving system whose changing form becomes part of the artwork itself.
Week 1 — 20 August 2026
Week 2 – 28 August 2026
One week later, pollarding began unexpectedly!
The first change was the loss of a single ring. We could still enjoy the ring sheet, with one ring lost and another opened. The count fell from 35 to 34.
Despite all the activity involved in pollarding, the sculpture remained intact.
In Week 2, we also had another fantastic sign prepared for our pilot sculpture.
Week 2.5 – 31 August 2026
What a shock! The pollarding is complete. The sculpture is completely exposed to the ‘system’ of weather elements.
There is a significant break in the Ring Sheet sculpture. It may have been a transport truck — or perhaps the weather? Now we have only 33 rings left and they are clearly disengaged from the Ring Sheet. We can still see a 2 × 7 sheet of 14 along the top of the sheet and the 3 × 5 column of 15 along the right of the ring sheet. Excitingly, we can see three rings hanging from the third ring in from the left and the fifth ring along. Five rings hang like a tail from the bottom of the column.
Week 6 – 2 October 2026
Installed another beautiful, custom-designed and engraved sign for our sculpture.
Four weeks later, the ring sheet has changed very little since 31 August. Looking more closely, there is a tear in the main 2 × 7 ring sheet along the top. Connections have been severed between rings 4 and 5 in row 2 and rings 6 and 7 in row 1 (reading from the left in the large picture below). For those counting, we are down to 32 rings. Another ring has left the sheet.
Week 8 – 14 October 2026
The sculpture is bringing a lot of creative movement in an otherwise geometrically uniform school car park.
Again, very little change can be seen after another two weeks. The weather has been unseasonally gentle. There has been some wind, although we have yet to experience the autumn wind systems that could have a large impact on our sculpture.
The highlight of this observation was witnessing the willow defiantly growing and sprouting new branches and leaves…
Perhaps, as we monitor over the next two months into December, we might see snow and a full “head of hair” back on our beautiful willow, with the sculpture peeking out below again.
Learning from the Pilot
Pollarding had been anticipated around three months into the project, but took place within weeks. This unexpected intervention changed the immediate conditions around the installed sculpture.
For Phase 4 of the full programme, earlier conversations about planned site activity could reveal other systems likely to interact with the work. The aim is to understand those conditions while retaining openness to change. A related visual record can be found in Tracing Systems – Phase 5: Durational Systems Observation.
Return to the Complex Systems project overview to explore the four phases.
