A 4-meter 100-tonne boulder of Portland limestone. The boulder is a work of artist John Frankland and was installed at Compton Verney in 2001. To celebrate its installation Johnny Dawes provided free bouldering lessons to beginners.
Details of the problems on the boulder can be found on its entry in the UKClimbing.com crag database.
Compton Verney consider access to the boulder for groups on a case by case basis.
Details of the problems on the boulder can be found on its entry in the UKClimbing.com crag database.
Compton Verney consider access to the boulder for groups on a case by case basis.
Photos copyright to Adrian Bates on UKClimbing.com
Think rock climbing and you think Snowdonia, the Peak District, France and Spain. You do not think the grounds of a Warwickshire stately home a stone's throw from Stratford.
The most unusual advertisements in the history of British contemporary art have been appearing in climbing magazines. Artist John Frankland has been seeking rock climbers to clamber over his latest work, a 100 tonne Portland stone boulder installed in the Capability Brown parkland of Compton Verney, a Grade I listed 18th century mansion in Warwickshire. The first team to climb the treacherous north face of Untitled Boulder will be lead by a renowned climber, Johnny Dawes. Volunteers from all over the country will join him, and raw recruits will be offered tuition in how to put the boot into a work of art.
It will be animated by climbers over the next two weeks - the artist doesn't see it as a sculpture but as a boulder.
Talking about the essential physicality of rock climbing and how this relates back to his work as a sculptor, Frankland focuses on the pervasive yet invisible force of gravity, 'which in physics is known as the "weak force" and because gravity is weak, we can move through it: the act of walking is one of constantly balancing on the Earth, the vertical line through our bodies pointing towards the centre of the Earth.' As a sculptor and a climber, the laws of gravity and ideas about weight and weightlessness are a constant preoccupation. He talks about the most skilled climbers' gravity-defying ability to move across rock and boulders in tones of reverence and awe. "The forces of gravity imposes a constant and fundamental truth about our relationship to the Earth. Climbing comes from an urge to work against this, and in doing so puts us back in touch with where we are".
- Ingrid Swenson (2008)
In a world where the general rule is that you don't touch artworks, it gives me great pleasure to think that these sculptures have been touched by so many hands.
- John Frankland (2021)
