British artist Alex Chinneck has created a six-metre-high, looped canal boat on the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal in England as a "playful distortion of the familiar".
Designed to celebrate the heritage of the canal, the 13-metre-long and six-metre-high sculpture was created as a free-to-visit artwork that appears to float.
With the loop-the-loop boat, Chinneck aimed to draw attention to the history of the canal in a playful and contemporary way.
Alex Chinneck created a loop-the-loop canal boat
"All of our surreal public artworks [in Tinsley] share the sculptural language of fluidity in a typically inflexible form," Chinneck told Dezeen.
"The 200-plus-year-old Sheffield & Tinsley Canal is an under-celebrated gem on the edge of the city, and we wanted to encourage the recreational use and discovery of its charm. The use of a canal boat is contextually responsive and the artwork offers a surreal and playful distortion of the familiar," he continued. "Ultimately we wanted to create an intervention that celebrated the history of the canal and resonated with its industrial heritage while creating a contemporary artwork with a playful and positive personality."
The sculpture was designed to be surreal and playful
Located alongside the Sheffield Ikea, the installation was moored between locks four and five of Sheffield & Tinsley Canal, so that people could view it from both the towpath and boats on the canal.
The main body of the b...