Installation Diary | Part 3

The MCA installation team put the final touches on ‘One way colour tunnel’ (2007)

Working on the weekend installing Take your time: Olafur Eliasson, MCA’s Install Coordinator, Tony Mighell takes us behind the scenes as the team gets down to the pointy end of installation…

The last few days have been the busiest of the whole install period and it’s been all hands on deck to get the major works realised.

We completed the installation of ‘Multiple grotto’ (2004)  on Wednesday. A major piece, its completion meant that key people were now available for other areas such as — most importantly -  the installation of ‘Inverted Berlin Sphere’ (2005) in the Circular Quay Foyer. Thursday morning at 7am we rolled out the fork lift and scissor lifts and got to work securing the piece from the ceiling. All our engineered rigging, cables and electrics came together, with the installation finished in time for the gallery to open at 10am. That’s another large piece up and in!

‘Sunset kaleidoscope’ (2005) has proved much more difficult than was envisaged: the inner mirror cylinder shifted during transport and the piece had to be dismantled and reassembled. The piece was also moved to in front of the passenger lifts, which has meant that it now sits further out into space from the building – another installation challenge to overcome.

The building’s heritage brass windows frame the piece structurally, but meant the box couldn’t be inserted into the window with the motor attached. It’s too risky to attempt due to the distance the work sits out over the edge of the building, which meant bringing in a trailored cherry picker lift at the last minute. So at 7am on Friday morning, the cherry picker was fork lifted onto the dock, taken through the level 1 galleries, out the front door and onto the area in front of the building. Two people were hoisted up and proceeded to install the motor and housing – and again all before 10am.

A plumbing connection in the ‘Beauty’ (1993) space sprang a leak so I was in early this morning meeting plumbing contractors to repair it. It was only minor and dealt with easily, but the effects of a leak in a Level 3 gallery space is not a thought worth dwelling on…