New sculpture 'Floating Citadel' to be mounted outside Huntington Place in downtown Detroit

A rendering of the sculpture “Floating Citadel,” to will be located in the main circle drive of Huntington Place in downtown Detroit.
A rendering of the sculpture “Floating Citadel,” to will be located in the main circle drive of Huntington Place in downtown Detroit.

A new, outdoor sculpture by a Detroit artist will be mounted in a prominent downtown location by late summer, officials said Wednesday.

“Floating Citadel,” an 11-foot diameter bronze sculpture by Scott Hocking, will be installed in Huntington Place’s circular driveway at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue, announced the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority, which runs the convention center formerly known as Cobo Hall.

The group hopes to have the piece set up in time for the North American International Detroit Auto Show in September.

Related: Detroit auto show to return with new vehicles, outdoor events this fall

The piece will join a public art collection at Huntington Place that includes work by regional artists Hubert Massey, Robert Sestok, Tyree Guyton and Gilda Snowden.

“We are thrilled to reveal Scott Hocking as the artist for this stunning civic sculpture, which will welcome our community and visitors to the world-class Huntington Place Convention Center,” said Lisa Canada, chair of the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority and its art foundation.

“The sculpture, ‘Floating Citadel,’ is a beautiful piece which will join our other significant artworks at the convention center as we continue to expand our free public art collection.”

Related: TCF Center in Detroit changes name to Huntington Place

The sculpture takes its inspiration from Detroit’s history, and takes its name from "the original walled Village boundaries and its defensive core, 'the Citadel,' which was located where this sculpture will stand," the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority announced in a news release.

“Floating Citadel,” a sculpture by Hocking to be mounted in the main circle drive of Huntington Place in downtown Detroit.
“Floating Citadel,” a sculpture by Hocking to be mounted in the main circle drive of Huntington Place in downtown Detroit.

"Visually inspired by the East Jordan Iron Works cast-iron grates that are found throughout Michigan, 'Floating Citadel’s' form references celestial bodies, astrolabes, cages, drains, thresholds, mystic symbols and human skeletons — specifically echoing the idea of rib cages, which protect life, but also trap us on the earthly plane," the group said. "The work is meant to represent both a global, terrestrial object, and yet an ascending, spiritual form."

Hocking, a 2011 Kresge Fellow for visual arts, was selected through a national competition launched by the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority Art Foundation.

“From our first meetings just prior to the COVID  quarantine, to applying the final patina to the bronze, I'm excited to install this work — it's been a long time coming,” said Hocking.

“To have a large-scale sculpture in Detroit's civic center, joining the likes of Noguchi, Graham, Fredericks, Barr and De Giusti — and to have it located in front of the place that I've gone to since I was just a kid at the auto show — it's a real honor.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Huntington Place to mount new sculpture by artist Scott Hocking