A Thousand Future Skies
A Thousand Future Skies (2014) is a major permanent artwork by Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Boyce, commissioned for the entrance of the newly completed Reid Building at the Glasgow School of Art. The installation takes the form of a 4.3m × 8.9m hanging screen composed of geometric "vines" fabricated from painted steel and coloured glass, suspended prominently above the building's main entrance.
The artwork was designed specifically in response to the architectural language of Steven Holl Architects' new building, which emphasises light, transparency, and vertical movement. Boyce's screen of steel and glass refracts and filters light entering the foyer, creating a dynamic interplay of colour and shadow that shifts throughout the day. The piece reflects the artist's long-standing exploration of modernist forms and his ongoing reinterpretation of the 1925 Martel concrete "trees."
Installed as an integral feature of the Reid Building — the first newly constructed building on the GSA campus in decades — the work symbolises a dialogue between past and future: between Mackintosh's historic masterpiece opposite and the contemporary architecture across the street. Boyce's sculptural screen acts as a threshold, inviting students, staff, and visitors into a space that merges artistic legacy with forward-looking practice.
The artwork was designed specifically in response to the architectural language of Steven Holl Architects' new building, which emphasises light, transparency, and vertical movement. Boyce's screen of steel and glass refracts and filters light entering the foyer, creating a dynamic interplay of colour and shadow that shifts throughout the day. The piece reflects the artist's long-standing exploration of modernist forms and his ongoing reinterpretation of the 1925 Martel concrete "trees."
Installed as an integral feature of the Reid Building — the first newly constructed building on the GSA campus in decades — the work symbolises a dialogue between past and future: between Mackintosh's historic masterpiece opposite and the contemporary architecture across the street. Boyce's sculptural screen acts as a threshold, inviting students, staff, and visitors into a space that merges artistic legacy with forward-looking practice.
