Tracing Systems – Phase 2: Co-Authored Torus Sculptures
Location
Staunton Country Park, Hampshire
Duration
May 2026
Materials
Seven woven grapevine tori constructed from vine clippings sourced from Ashling Park Estate; rope from Emsworth Slipper Sailing Club; site materials and temporary spatial supports.
Authorship
Dawn Sculthorpe Hayter / SculthorpeStudios with the Red Glove Co-Artists
System Design
Phase Two extended the participatory land art process into a structured series of co-authored sculptural instantiations. Using seven pre-constructed grapevine tori, participants generated 11 distinct spatial configurations through placement, orientation, stacking, suspension, balance, proximity and interaction with site.
Parameters
The resulting sculptures emerged from the interaction of multiple variables, including the number and arrangement of tori, participant decisions and movement, site conditions, available supports, material behaviour, spatial constraints, time and collective negotiation. Rather than determining a single outcome, these parameters defined the conditions within which multiple sculptural forms could emerge.
Description
Tracing Systems: Phase Two — Co-Authored Torus Sculptures documents eleven sculptural instantiations generated through structured participation at Staunton Country Park. Using the same seven torus forms, participants explored alternative relationships between the components, producing configurations that could not be predicted in advance. Each sculpture records a particular state of the system at a moment in time, revealing how collective decision-making, material interaction and environmental conditions give rise to emergent forms. The work shifts authorship from the production of individual objects towards the design of conditions within which participants and materials jointly shape the outcome.
Phase Relationship
This phase builds upon the earlier solo construction of the seven torus forms, in which organisational experiences were translated into sculptural components. Rather than creating additional toruses, participants investigated the relationships between them. By rearranging the same elements into multiple configurations, the project shifted from representing organisational systems to exploring how new forms emerge through interaction, collaboration and changing relationships within a shared system.
Background: How the Vine Tori Were Made
The seven grapevine tori used in Tracing Systems were constructed by hand on site at Ashling Park Estate by Dawn Sculthorpe-Hayter. The making process formed an important part of the project’s sculptural methodology, translating raw vine material into large-scale armatures for subsequent co-authored installation. A 12-step video documenting the Vine Torus Armature Method is available here: Watch the 12-step Vine Torus Armature Method on YouTube
Torus Sculptures Catalogue
This catalogue documents 11 co-authored sculptural outcomes developed as part of Tracing Systems at Staunton Country Park, Hampshire, in collaboration with the Red Glove co-artists. Working with seven woven grapevine tori, the series explores how participatory system design can generate varied sculptural forms while also reflecting the lived experience of navigating bureaucratic, institutional and administrative systems.
Each sculpture is recorded with materials, dimensions, site details and a short interpretive text covering both sculptural form and system experience.
A site-based project exploring how form is generated through participation, constraint and environmental conditions. Developed with collaborators and co-artists at Staunton Country Park.
SculthorpeStudios 