Liverpool Mountain

Mermaid Courtyard

Acclaimed Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s first UK work stands alongside Tate Liverpool. His soaring, ten metre-high Liverpool Mountain is created from vertically-stacked rocks, with each stone painted a different fluorescent colour.

Website
+44 (0) 151 702 7400

Always open

Rondinone’s work is inspired by naturally occurring hoodoos – spires or pyramids of rock – and the meditative art of rock balancing. Liverpool Mountain has swiftly become a gravity-defying landmark, poised between the natural, the artificial and the manmade. It forms part of his Mountain series, which has already attracted millions of visitors to similar sculptures in Las Vegas and Miami.

‘Public art is the first step for art education, so it should be understood by everyone,’ he says. His materials of choice – stone and colour – are ‘something universal, that everybody understands.’

The Dock’s cultural offer continues to grow with the addition of the eye-catching spire. The five boulders each weigh around half a tonne; stacked together, it towers ten metres above the courtyard and its day-glo colours contrast with the elegant brick of Royal Albert Dock Liverpool.

"Public sculpture is where you can reach people, and that is what art should do… to reach people and touch people. It gives you the kind of optimism that we need in this time"

Rondinone

The artwork celebrates Liverpool City Region’s commitment to supporting bold, contemporary art – and the city’s status as a world-renowned cultural destination. It’s also part of the Liverpool 2018 programme, which marks the 10th anniversary of Liverpool European Capital of Culture, the 20th anniversary of Liverpool Biennial and 30th anniversary of Tate Liverpool.

Speaking at its launch in October 2018, Rondinone said: ‘The Royal Albert Dock is amazing, I am very proud to be part of it… the colour scheme goes from brown to grey so the coloured mountains stands out and it creates a landmark… it will guide them to the Tate Liverpool.

‘I hope the people of Liverpool will embrace it and protect their sculpture,’ he adds.