Cork In 50 Artworks, No 29: John Burke’s sculpture at Wilton Roundabout

Erected to inaugurate the Cork 800, the steel piece was an early - and sometimes unappreciated - representation of modernism in the local art canon  

The sculpture by John Burke at Wilton roundabout, Cork. Picture Denis Minihane.

John Burke’s abstract metal sculpture attracted no end of publicity when it was installed at the Wilton Roundabout in Cork in December 1984. The piece – 25 ft high and eight tons in weight - was commissioned by local businessmen Clayton Love and Séamus Gallagher to inaugurate the Cork 800 celebrations the following year.

Painted a distinctive blue, the untitled sculpture was mistaken by many as a location marker for airplanes flying into Cork Airport, a misapprehension that spoke to how little knowledge or appreciation there was of contemporary art in the city at that time.