Book Launch: Sunset, Sunrise, Sunset by Alexandre da Cunha

Art on the Underground and Kerber Verlag present a new publication on the work of Alexandre da Cunha at Battersea Power Station, to celebrate one year on from the station’s opening.

Alexandre da Cunha will be in conversation with Lisa Blackmore, Senior Lecturer in Art History and Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Essex, who has written on da Cunha’s work for this new publication.

Writer Rebecca Watson will read from her essay, ‘That Pink’, that features in the book.

The book will be available for purchase at a special discounted rate, alongside drinks from Café Bicicletta, with thanks to Thomas Dane Gallery.

Sunset, Sunrise, Sunset is a monumental kinetic sculpture for Battersea Power Station Underground station. Stretching 95m and 60m in length, the artwork incorporates two friezes that face each other along the length of the ticket hall. The artwork was inspired by the former control room at Battersea Power Station and its system of vertical bars that regulated the production and output of electricity into the city. Combining this with resonances of the daily flow of dawn to dusk, Sunset, Sunrise, Sunset refers to cycles, routine, the everyday and eternity.

Published by Kerber Verlag and edited by Eleanor Pinfield, the Head of Art on the Underground, the book explores the monumental artwork. Designed by Fraser Muggeridge Studio, the book features the entire run of the artwork, alongside archival and installation photography of the artwork and behind the scenes shots.

The publication features essays from art historian Lisa Blackmore exploring the artist’s practice, a geographical and social history of the local area around Battersea Power Station from architecture and design writer Gillian Darley, an essay on commissioning the work by Eleanor Pinfield and a creative prose work responding to the artwork from writer Rebecca Watson.

Alongside the new book, we will showcase a limited-edition calendar from Plinth created by Alexandre da Cunha and Melissa Castro Duarte, also available for purchase.