The Jerwood Charitable Foundation is delighted to announce MICHAEL VISOCCHI - Winner of the JERWOOD SCULPTURE PRIZE 2009

Michael Visocchi’s proposal for Yield has been awarded the 2009 Jerwood Sculpture Prize’s winning commission of £25,000. Yield will be produced as a large-scale, permanent sculpture to be unveiled at the Jerwood Sculpture Park, in the grounds of Ragley Hall, Warwickshire in spring 2010. 

For his proposal, Visocchi has taken scaled down models of electricity pylons found near Ragley and placed one on top of the other. Constructed in galvanized mild steel, the sculpture will stand as a contemporary monument to modern day technology and, at 18m in height, will be an impressive presence in the landscape. In choosing to take the form of the pylon as his Jerwood sculpture, Visocchi makes us think again, not only about the design of these structures, which so often we do not even notice in the landscape, but about the 21st-century issues of climate change, carbon footprints and renewable energy.

Visocchi: ‘The search to produce and transmit more and more energy is now acknowledged to be directly proportional to negative impacts on global climate. The paradox is, however, that pylons are a necessity for a successful and vital link in servicing communities around the country as we continue to consume more energy to satisfy increasingly complex lifestyles.’