Artist: Thomas L Price
Client: Museum of Contemporary Art
Location: MCA, The Rocks, Sydney
Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art is celebrating the installation if Thomas J. Price’s Ancient Feelings (2025), a three-metre-high golden bronze sculpture commissioned with support from the Balnaves Foundation. This sculpture forms part of a new annual series of temporary sculptural works located prominently on Tallawoladah Lawn in front of the MCA. The Partridge team were delighted to be involved in providing structural engineering services to ensure the safe installation of this impressive sculpture.
Thomas J Price is a London-based artist whose large-scale sculptures of everyday imagined people, invite us to consider who is typically represented in public space.
Partridge collaborated with an international team of designers to ensure this masterpiece was installed safely. The design balanced the requirements to support the substantial weight of the bronze sculpture and the temporary nature of the installation.
With a planned display period from September 2025 to April 2026, a temporary structure was provided below the surrounding plinth with rigid connection points to the sculpture’s internal armature. The grillage of steel beams was designed to span onto steel spreader plates to avoid the use of large heavy concrete elements. The temporary structure provides stability to the sculpture for the duration of the installation while remaining practical and cost-effective allowing removal without permanent damage to the public space.
Our approach is consistent across all projects: to provide structural solutions that support creative intent while ensuring safety. Whether temporary or permanent, the goal is always to give confidence that the work will stand securely in its environment.
