A sculpture commemorating codebreaker and computing pioneer Alan Turing has been unveiled at King’s College, Cambridge.
The 3.7m high sculpture, entitled True, for Alan Turing (photo by Jo Underhill), was designed by Sir Antony Gormley, best known for The Angel of the North.
Unlike other sculptures celebrating Turing, Gormley’s creation is not intended as an accurate likeness, being described instead as ‘an abstract figure’. Gormley also describes the sculpture as ‘a celebration of the opportunities that a life allowed’, rather than as a memorial.
The piece is made from Corten steel, a material that Gormley often uses in his work. Commenting on the significance of his choice of materials, Gormley noted that Corten’s copper content means that the artwork ‘will oxidise over time, forming a rich red rust surface. The sculpture’s relationship with time and weather is an integral part of its character’.
Speaking at King’s, he also expressed his hope that the sculpture will be ‘something that the life of the College lives with and that will be a continual source of questioning, of projection, a marker of an elusive relationship to a person and our evolving time’.
While the provost of King’s College, Gillian Tett, has praised the sculpture for reflecting ‘Turing’s brilliance and his vulnerability’ and for embodying ‘the transformation of the industrial into the information age’, others have been more critical.
Chair of the Arts Society Cambridge, Fiona Blake, criticised the sculpture for not being a fitting representation of Turing, while Historic England expressed fears that it would ‘be at odds with the existing character of the College’ and detract from its ‘aesthetic significance’.
Concern has also been raised about the sculpture’s location, as the College is only accessible to the general public at certain times. Those without university resident or alumni cards also have to pay to visit the site. King’s College has said that it will work to make the artwork accessible to visitors and school groups through pre-arranged bookings.
Despite these controversies, the sculpture’s unveiling is significant. While there are already. a number of memorials to Turing, including one located near Manchester’s gay village and another at Bletchley Park, this is the first one to be erected in Cambridge, where Turing studied maths in the 1930s.
During the Second World War, Turing worked as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park, helping to crack the Enigma code used to encrypt military communications. Turing was also a brilliant mathematician and is regarded as a pioneer of computer science.
[Top photo of ‘True, for Alan Turing’ by Jo Underhill — www.structuraleye.co.uk]