Clifford Chance

Tanja Engelberts receives the Clifford Chance/University of the Arts London Sculpture Award 2014

The Clifford Chance/University of the Arts London Sculpture Award 2014 has been given to Tanja Engelberts, who completed her MA Postgraduate studies at Chelsea College of Arts and Design in 2013. The £3750 Award gives the selected artist the opportunity to display her sculpture in the Reception of Clifford Chance's offices at Canary Wharf for six months.

Tanja Engelberts combines a photographic and sculptural practice, the one informing the other. Understanding photography as being experienced solely through the eye, she uses sculptural installations to explore how photography can relate to the body, how movement and space can affect the viewing experience. Her recent imagery reflects a fascination with corporate architecture, particularly the concept of the ‘Silver Aesthetic’, a 1970s coinage that described a way modern architecture could blend with the historical backdrop. A concept that was given an ideological content by Japanese architects in the 1980s, who called it the poetics of ‘almost nothing’ and saw their architecture as ‘symbolism of the void’. Using Canary Wharf as an exemplar, Tanja believes the concept has been lost, replaced with a type of global architecture that is visually appealing but raises concerns about cultural identity. Engelberts asks the question: Can Canary Wharf, in all its functionality, be a place of wonder and contemplation?

The Clifford Chance Art Group, who selected Tanja Engelberts (b. The Netherlands, 1987) from a shortlist compiled by the University, responded to the clarity of her proposal. A sculptural intervention into their working environment that both introduces an ethereal, fleeting quality and reflects on the specifics of their office's location at Canary Wharf; the moments of beauty and isolation she captures in her photographs of the office's surroundings. 'Viewers of her work will respond to the unseen beauty that surrounds us everyday', they said.

According to Tanja Engelberts ‘To receive the Sculpture Award seems I have come full circle. I have spent hours wandering around Canary Wharf with a camera in my hand. To show the work inside one of the office buildings is an appropriate ending to this project. It has been an absolute delight to work with Clifford Chance, and a great opportunity to realise these new sculptures.'