This 20m high rocket was built out of junk and had smoke coming out of its windows. It stood in the Roundhouse, London, a former industrial train turning station that has since become a permanent performance space. I turned it back to industrial use by creating a live rocket factory in it, much like NASA’s barn at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The materials took five months to source from various scrap yards in England. Most of it is steel or fiberglass, plus a few tractor tires and several industrial fans, and the bottom part is a discarded tank from a toothpaste factory.

Not counting the preliminary design and welding, the rocket took two days of construction on site, then stood erect for three days and was dismantled in another two. During this period, over 30 people worked on it, from the commissioners, engineers, welders, transporters, riggers, light and stage crew and documentarians to myself. After the brief run, some loaned parts were returned, and others sold off as scrap. So as much as it was a very big sculpture, the rocket was also just another ephemeral event.

One year later, according to one of the main suppliers, Specialist Plant in Northamptonshire, all parts have been recycled and put into new use; The orange nose cone bit went down to a re-opened tin mine in Cornwall, the point on the cone was used on the construction of the new gas pipeline in the Brecon Beacons, and is now in the Bowels of Kings Cross underground station, while the middle tubular parts (fan silencers) were used to blast large quantities of dust out of the Liverpool Loop Metro.

The project was a new commission by Art Catalyst, supported by the Arts Council of England and the Henry Moore Foundation, and built for the show ‘Space Soon’ at the Camden Roundhouse, London, 9–13 September 2006.

Industrial Design & Fabrication - Cory Burr, C.Burr Design / Stratford Welding
Engineering - Price Myers
Rigging - MTec Freight Group