Forgotten Spaces Sheffield 2011: Shortlist – The Golden Frame by Deborah Egan, Leon Henshaw and Alastair Norton
The Golden Frame is a mobile floating viewing frame designed for the waterways of the Sheffield and Tinsley Navigation, a canal pouring through Sheffields abandoned and demolished landscape of steelmills
The Golden Frame derives its name from the 19th century colloquial description for Sheffield as ‘A dirty picture in a Golden Frame’ at a time when the smoke and fires of industry mired the landscape.
In this case the Golden Frame acts as a viewing frame driving the viewer to actively engage and see their surroundings in a fresh context.
The structure can be moved between locations and is mounted on a pontoon system with the frame hoisted upon fibreglass masts supported by wire rigging. This allows the masts to be lowered and the pontoon to pass easily under canal bridges as it moves on.
The vistas it encapsulates can range from the reclamation of nature to derelict fragments of once monumental buildings. It can act as a screening frame for moving image and as a temporary proscenium arch for performance and theatre.
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