Tracing Systems – After the System

A solo-authored site specific public sculpture developed at Staunton Country Park as part of the wider Tracing Systems project in May 2026.

The work uses seven hand-formed vine torus structures, constructed by the artist and installed in response to an existing site condition within the park. The sculpture translates the navigation of external organisational, civic, material and environmental systems into a physical arrangement of form, tension, weight and support.

The final installation developed from earlier tests for a vertical suspended structure. As the site conditions changed, the work was reconfigured into its installed form, retaining the core sculptural language of torus, rope, tree, suspension and measured relation.

“I see musical notes hanging on a staff – like a bar of music”

_{^{Artificial intelligence, 14 May 2026}}

View the first ideas about Tracing Systems — the Vertical Installation Study

Site

The sculpture is installed within the public landscape of Staunton Country Park. It responds directly to the available tree structure, ground conditions, sight lines and movement patterns of the park.

Rather than treating the site as a neutral background, the work uses the site as an active structural condition. The tree, beam, rope, weather, gravity and public setting all become part of the sculptural system.

Position in the Park

The sculpture is positioned just off one of the main avenue walking paths at Staunton Country Park, set back approximately 25 metres from the walking route. This placement allows the work to be encountered gradually: visible from the path, but slightly withdrawn into the landscape. The position creates a relationship between public movement, tree structure and sculptural form. Visitors can pass it in motion, pause beside it or view it from different points along the avenue, allowing the work to shift between landmark, intervention and quiet embedded presence.

Stage One — Site Preparation

The first stage of the installation involved preparing the tree structure that would hold the sculpture. Several limbs were removed on 12th May 2026,to create a clear, safe and visually coherent support for the seven torus forms. The Park Rangers generously assisted with this stage, bringing their site knowledge, equipment and practical expertise to the work. This preparation became part of the sculpture’s development: the existing tree was not treated as a neutral support, but as an active site condition shaped through collaboration, access, care and practical decision-making.

Did you see all this action when you walked through the park that day?

Video: Watch the site preparation and chainsaw work on YouTube.

“Perhaps a Squirrel will use them as a treadmill?” _{^{Park visitor walking in the park, 15 May 2026}}

Installation Day

Installed collaboratively in situ with the Red Gloves team from The Right to Work, the work was physically realised over a three-hour installation period at Staunton Country Park on Thursday 14 May 2026. While the sculpture was solo-developed and directed by Dawn Sculthorpe Hayter, the installation process relied upon collective labour, adaptability and shared momentum. Participants moved fluidly between roles including lifting torus forms, stabilising ladders, documenting the process, tying supports and assisting with spatial positioning across the site.

The installation became a live exercise in coordination, physical negotiation and environmental responsiveness. Decisions were made continuously through bodily movement and collective observation: a little to the left, a little to the right, adjusting spacing, balance, tension and visual rhythm in response to the landscape itself.

Alongside the physical labour, humour, encouragement and shared energy played an essential role in sustaining the momentum of the work and enabling the large-scale installation to emerge successfully within the landscape.

As ever the Red Gloves did not dissapoint and the artist is grateful for the enthusiasm to install and support as much as be the creators of their own art work.

Materials

The sculpture is constructed from:

hand-formed vine torus structures
rope
an existing tree structure
site-based support points
environmental force, including wind, weight and weather

The materials retain visible evidence of handling, testing and adjustment. The materials remain deliberately direct. They show handling, weathering, pressure and adjustment. The work is not designed as a closed object. It is a temporary public sculpture that continues to register its conditions.

The torus forms were constructed by hand from vine cuttings gathered during the development of the project. Each form retains variation in density, tension, compression and surface. The rope functions both as practical support and as a visible drawing line, marking connection, load and suspension.

“It looks like barbed wire around a wall in a prison”

_{^{Peter, friend of the artist! 16 May 2026}}

Structure

The sculpture brings seven torus forms into relation with one another through a shared support structure.

Each torus holds its own internal logic. Together, the forms create a larger spatial arrangement based on proximity, balance, compression and movement. The work is not a fixed diagram. It is a physical structure affected by wind, weight, weather and touch.

The installation makes visible the movement between individual form and collective arrangement.

“I see a portal, maybe a tunnel?”

_{^{Year 9 student, Parks Community School, Hampshire, 20 May 2026}}.

Relationship to the Co-Authored Work

Tracing Systems began as a participatory sculpture project with co-authors from Right to Work, using torus forms, rope, bodies, land, weather and repeated configuration to explore how people move through systems.

The solo sculpture sits alongside the co-authored torus sculptures developed with the Red Gloves group.

Where the co-authored works explore collective configuration, shared decision-making and participatory structure, this solo installation extends the torus language into a public site-specific form. It extends the inquiry into a public site-specific form. It translates the project’s core questions into a larger installation: how structures hold, restrict, support, connect and move in response to changing conditions.

Together, the works show two related strands of Tracing Systems: collective making and solo translation.

Development

The solo sculpture emerged from the wider Tracing Systems project, which explored how lived experience of external systems could be translated into sculptural form.

This sculpture developed from a series of maquettes, rope tests, scale experiments and site observations.

An earlier vertical installation study tested height, vertical suspension, spacing and the use of a denuded tree as a central support. The final installed work emerged through this process but shifted in response to site conditions, available structure and practical installation constraints.

The development process remains part of the work. It records the movement from proposition to site-responsive decision.

Development study: Tracing Systems — Vertical Installation Study

Structured Longitudinal Documentation

All images in this series are photographed from the same fixed observation point beneath the red-leafed beech approximately 13 metres from the sculpture. The repeated viewpoint creates a longitudinal visual record of environmental change, material weathering and seasonal transformation across the six-month installation period.

Week 1, Day 2, 15 May 2026. Note: today was overcast with breaks for sunshine. There was rain and hail and wind yet this image shows the sculpture has changed very little since yesterday. perhaps torus 2 is askew? (torus are numbered from left to right).

Week 1, Day 3, 16 May 2026. Note: Another inclement day, but no noticeable destruction on the sculpture from the overnight rain and wind. I noticed today the torus were not moving as much as the surrounding branches and leaves. I checked the security of the rope and realigned the rope strands. The rope color is perfect to easily be camoflauged against the beam, giving the impressiono the torus sitting without restraint on the beam.

Week 1, Day 4, 17 May 2026. Note: After I took this photo the sun was out and the park was full of visitors, at least 40 groups walked past the sculpture either along the path or on the open lawned area. Some stopped, some tripped over their dog as the sculpture caught their eye, others pointed to show their walking companion. The highlight was a group of young ladies that approached and pulled down on torus 1 to see if it would break, then proceeded to hang their torsos over torus 1, 2 and 3. Completing their inspection by trying to lift one of their number up to sit on torus 1 as a swing. That is the type of Public Engagement some sculptors only dream about! Torus 5 may be a little askew?

Week 1, Day 5, 18 May 2026. Note: The sculpture today survived its first weekend. Saturday there is a run at Staunton with up to 100 people all passing by the sculpture and Sunday morning hosts free yoga on the park that many people use to start their day before a walk around the park. Its spring and Hampshire is in full bloom, so I imagined the weekend visitors could number in the 1000s. It is surprising the Sculpture shows no obvious signs of human interference resulting in break down! Lets see how it survives the next weekend of May when there is a long weekend.

Week 1, Day 6, 19 May 2026.Note: a little sun brought many more people to the park. The path had groups of walkers many stopping and pointing it to their friends. Questions were thrown around.

Week 1, Day 7, 20 May 2026. Note: I am surprised we made it a full week. I was surprised we didn’t loose some structural integrity in the first 24 hours – not because I doubt my capacity to build torus and weave without any reinforcement or my design for installation, but I had limited knowledge of the environmental factors at play, from animal engagement through to wind, rain and human interaction. There were rumours of vandals in the park at night! So to survive a full 7 days I am elated. There is very minor loss of vines and no detectable sign of movement along the beam. You can see for yourself. these photos were taken middle of the day from the same vantage point, using the same camera for all 7 days. But the question is what does it tell us about Systems and their translation into our human experience. I like to think this 7 days shows us the calm before the storm when we engage enthusiastically again with a new series of systems to navigate to archive our outcome, and they sit passively, dominant and calm, waiting for our engagement.

Weekly Capture

The following images represent weekly capture. Every Thursday for the next three weeks a photo is taken. Providing us a record of four weeks in a row. After 4 weeks I would expect some environmental degradation, perhaps some increase in human interaction that accelerates the breakdown of the torus and even perhaps animal engagement with the torus. Lets see.

Week 1, Thursday 14 May 2026 – Installation Day.