A Hall for Hull was created by Chilean architects Mauricio Peso and Sophia von Ellrichshausen with the participation of Swiss op-art master Felice Varini. The installation is timed to coincide with the possession of Kingston upon Hull (colloquially simply Hull) in 2017 with the title “City of Culture of the United Kingdom”. The best idea for an art object in the very center of the city, near the eastern façade of the cathedral, was selected through a competition held by RIBA.
Sixteen perforated galvanized steel columns are arranged on a regular grid, as in a hypostyle hall: only the central line, which continues the axis of the cathedral, is left free. Each of the columns is six meters high and two meters in diameter can be entered.
Three works by Felice Varini are applied to the columns, which unexpectedly make a clear and clear installation illusory - however, the points of view from which the artist's paintings are visible still need to be found what tempts the townspeople to take a walk between these cylinders.
Hall for Hull offers residents a fresh look at their city and attracts tourists, but it also has a practical function. Now the Gothic Anglican cathedral, which received this status only this summer, before that it was just the Church of the Holy Trinity, is being restored, and the installation now serves as its “external choir”.
