Antony Gormley discusses his stunning 'Subject' installation at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge

See Edge III - a solid iron body standing on a wall - and the first UK showing of Infinite Cube II

Devised for the new galleries and spaces at Kettle’s Yard, Antony Gormley’s Subject highlights how sculpture can activate the space that it occupies and the body of the viewer.

The installation is the first solo artist exhibition in the new galleries and aims to push and test the boundaries of the spaces.

Two taut steel lines shoot through the galleries, breaching their entrances and intersecting at head height. They cross the space but without touching.

Another line cuts one gallery vertically from ceiling to floor. This work is called Co-Ordinate IV (2018). Inside the gallery stands a single figure made of steel rods that map the human body using the same three co-ordinates as Co-Ordinate IV.

In the adjacent gallery is Edge III (2012), a solid iron body that stands on the wall at the height of a bed.

Infinite Cube II (2018), which is being shown in the UK for the first time at Kettle’s Yard, is the sole object in its space and the only source of light. Its cube structure refers to Jorge Luis Borges’ famous short story, The Aleph.

“Both in the demands that it makes of the viewer and in the way that this exhibition uses the spaces of the gallery, the show begs the question as to where the subject of art can be found – I am proposing that it is rooted most powerfully in the imaginative engagement and ultimately the memory of the viewer. The wager of this show is that ‘subject’ has transferred from object to experience,” Mr Gormley told the Cambridge Independent.

The exhibition is open now and runs until Monday, August 27.