The Forum was developed for HOTA’s 2018 Christmas Commission as an alternative to the traditional festive installation. Rather than creating a singular object to be observed, the project proposed a public setting to be occupied, somewhere to gather, rest, talk, and spend time together during the holiday period.

The project takes its name from the Roman Forum, historically understood as a civic space for exchange, discussion, and collective life. That idea became the conceptual basis for the work. In a time often defined by commercial spectacle and consumption, the installation aimed to offer something quieter and more social, a temporary commons placed within the landscape of the Broadwater Parklands.

The installation consisted of a series of bright red modular seating elements distributed beneath the large fig trees along the waterfront. The pieces operated somewhere between furniture, play equipment, and informal architecture. Some elements encouraged reclining, others supported climbing, gathering, or conversation. Suspended mesh surfaces introduced moments of softness and movement, while the open-ended arrangement allowed people to occupy the work in different ways.

Importantly, the project was designed less as a fixed composition and more as a social framework. Children climbed across it, families gathered around it, strangers shared space within it. The work became animated through occupation rather than spectacle.

Constructed from durable steel and mesh, the installation was intentionally robust, direct, and highly legible within the landscape. The vivid red form established a visual contrast against the dense green canopy of the fig trees while remaining simple enough to foreground use and interaction over image.

At its core, The Forum explored how temporary public installations might create moments of connection across different communities, backgrounds, and generations through something as simple as providing a place to sit together.