Online Greenlight Review

What if Metropolis
Brem Welch
Tony Cragg

Tony Cragg Summary

Tony Cragg is a English born sculptor who is currently

living in Germany and working as a teacher.
In 1988 he won the Turner Prize.
Cragg works in a very fluid and amorphous manner which
is reflected in his sculptures.
Cragg's work is influenced by the world he observes
around him.
He often uses objects of inspiration and incorporates them
into his work as starting points to build up from.

Influences
I love looking at Cragg's
metallic sculptures which look
like coral or rock formations.
They have been the main
bases for a lot of my ideas for
the city. I also originally
thought that I could maybe
use his 'Recycled Materials'
artwork as a design for
pathways and floors, maybe
even tile or brick patterns. I
also like how all his
sculptures have a certain
fluidity about them which
makes them seem like one
form that was frozen in time
rather than a sculpture.

Influence Map

Travelogue
I rolled over. The first thing that occurred to me is that the bed I was laying in wasn't mine. The second thing was that I
was alive. I opened my eyes slowly and let them adjust to the to the warm shallow light that was lazily drifting into the
room through a gap between a pair of heavy looking green drapes. Where the hell was I? I sat up slowly in the bed and
a sharp pain rushed through my head, making me see a bright flash of white which burned behind my eyelids making
me see stars. After a few minutes my vision returned to normal and I finally took in my surroundings. I was in a small
room with a domed ceiling and a single arching wall that encircled everything that was on the strangely patterned floor.
The floor itself seemed to be made of various shapes in a variety of colours and sizes suspended in a glass type
substance. The room was furnished very minimally with a chest of drawers in the corner which seemed to be hewn out
of a single piece of wood with such amazing precision and skill that it made the wood seem like it was a flowing
sculpture made of clay. On the drawers was an oil lamp and beside it a cup. I got out of bed The dizzying light didn't
return thankfully and I walked over to the chest of drawers. In the cup was a bluey looking liquid. I let a little slip past
my lips. The liquid was sweet and silky and as I swallowed it, it made me realize how parched I was. I quickly downed
the rest of the cup and opened the drawers finding a fresh set of clothes. After I had changed into them I walked over to
the window and drew apart the velvet curtains. Before my eyes, disappearing into the trees below and rising high into the
sky above was the most beautiful city I had ever seen. This was the first view I ever had of Corvanus.
The city rose up from the earth like a giant piece of coral with twisting, liquid like branches snaking up into the sky. These
branches, as well as the core of the city were all coated or made from a shiny metal that was bright and glistening yet
didn't reflect a thing, no bright sunlight, no azure skies and not even what I would soon learn were houses that hung
from the branches like lots of different, vibrant coloured fruits. I needed to explore this alien metropolis but before I could
I needed to find a way out of the hollow sphere of a room I was in. I looked around and with more natural light dancing
into the room I could see more, including a strange archway made of the same material as the floor. At the apex of the
arch was a number, 271, made out of the same metal as the city and embedded into the frame. Down one side of the
Arch were small words; upper market, lower market, plateau, grove, surface... and many more. Down the other side of
the arch were numbers, 0 to 9. I ran my fingers down the side of the arch adorned with places and as it passed over
'Upper Market' the frame was filled with a watery mist. I put my hand between the two poles and felt my body being
dragged into the gateway, next thing I new I was stumbling out onto a large platform somewhere much higher in the city
but still not quite at the top.

Travelogue Continued
The market was a bustling place with people gliding from stall to stall and voices of shop keepers could be heard calling
out across the crowds to try and sell their wares. From the portal I could see the stalls nearer the platform starting off
small and as I looked further back and towards the spiralling core of the city the shops and stands gained size and
splendour. The buildings weren't like the houses and shops we have here, they took on the same fluid image the city had
however they looked less organic, less like trees or coral and more like a single piece of metal or stone that had been
manipulated to look like water being thrown about and frozen in time. They were curved and twisting and always
seemed to meet end to end, with no start and no finish. The shops here were a myriad of colours, the buildings closest
to me were all violet and as they went back they slowly sifted through every colour of the rainbow with the shops furthest
from me being a deep red. The whole scene was an incredible sight to behold but just before I could start exploring the
spectrum of coloured shops sprawled out before me I noticed a lot of the bustling and noise from the market had
stopped and been replaced with motionless staring and a cloud of whispers all directed at me. Shaken I started walking
back and stood inside the archway running my hands down the side until I was sucked away.

The next gateway I stumbled out of was 'The Grove' if the metal lettering above the portal was to be believed. It
appeared to be much lower down than the market place and even the room I woke in. The Grove was a garden or park
with a stream running from side to side that was fed by a tall, thin waterfall coming from the branches above. Floor of
this area was no longer the metallic material from before but rather luscious green grass with small vividly coloured wild
flowers growing from amongst the blades. There were all kinds of trees here as well and the light filtered through the
canopy of leaves creating spots of glowing sunlight on the grass below. I started to take a step out into the alluring park
but as I did a hand grabbed me from behind and around my mouth and dragged me back into the portal as a voice
hissed 'What do you think you're doing?'

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