DECEMBER 23, 2021. GRACE EBERT

All images © Alex Chinneck, by Marc Wilmont

Part functional walkway and part dramatic sculpture, an outdoor staircase

by Alex Chinneckunfurls into individual metallic ribbons as it climbs a brick building in Brighton. The latest work by the British artist, titled “A Spring in Your Step,” is made of galvanized steel and features a base with slatted rungs that gradually unwind into a trio of strips splaying outward over Circus Square.

Chinneck is known for his surreal architectural interventions—these include melting facades, a condemned building that unzips, and twisting red post boxes—that upend ubiquitous designs in favor of bizarre counterparts. He shares about the new piece: “’A Spring in Your Step’ took three years to complete, weighs four tonnes, is 25 meters tall, and follows a non-repeating, expanding, and contracting helical form, making it my most complex sculpture to date.”

Head to the artist’s Instagram to see the three-year process behind the spectacular sculpture […]

More: A Spectacular Staircase by Alex Chinneck Uncoils as It Scales a 25-Meter Building in Brighton