About Art - Out Of Order

“Out of Order” is an outdoor artwork designed by David Mach in 1989. It is made out of twelve telephone boxes, first one upright, the rest gradually falling over like dominoes. The last upright one should have a working telephone providing a constant public performance with a highly visible landmark for Kingston upon Thames and was commissioned by the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames. The telephone boxes are not just a parody of artists minimal boxes they also have a huge public recognition factor.

The art consist of the telephone boxes, steel, concrete and measures 304.8cm x 609.6cm x 1524cm. It is one of the earliest works of Mach, a Royal Academician and a leading figure in contemporary "site specific sculpture". His other work includes the Flying Scotsman in Northumberland and the huge photomontage in the Millennium Dome's Self- Portrait Zone.

Residents, however, have described Out of Order as an eyesore. Pat Arnold, who worked for BT when the work was constructed, thought the company had piled them up to cart off to the dump. "Then I heard that they were supposed to be a work of art. I couldn't believe my eyes. It's ridiculous to call a heap of old boxes an artwork," she said.

David Mach (born 20 March 1956) is a Scottish sculptor who studied at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee from 1974 to 1979 and subsequently at the Royal College of Art, London from 1979 to 1982. He became a part-time lecturer in the Sculpture School, Kingston University from 1982 to 1993 and he was a lecturer at the Contemporary Art Summer School, Kitakyushu, Japan from 1987 to 1991. He has been Visiting Professor at the Sculpture Department, Edinburgh College of Art since 1999 and in 2000 was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools, London. Find out more about the artist and his work at: www.davidmach.com