Magnus RINN
For the last number of years Joseph Walsh has been developing his monumental outdoor sculptural work. Magnus RINN, the first in the series, is created for the Ireland Pavilion at Expo 2025, Osaka.
The word RINN has meaning in both Gaelic and Japanese that relates to place, circularity and the flow of ideas across cultures.
Magnus RINN symbolises the relationship between man and nature throughout the passage of time and nature’s cycles.
‘It's quite a complex piece in some ways; but I was trying to create one simple gesture that would have this sense of harmony.’ – Joseph Walsh
Magnus RINN is a 6 meter tall circular form, transitioning from bronze to wood and finished in a gold gilding. It is a site-specific work and was created using ground-breaking new material technologies.
Magnus RINN was created following several years of research; extensive studies with the engineering firm Arup and material testing with university labs in Dublin and in Stuttgart, Germany. The challenge was to create a form with lightness and movement that could withstand the weather and seismic conditions in Osaka.
The texture on the bronze was created by Joseph Walsh and are his thumbprints. This symbolizes the theme; the relationship between man and nature, the passing of time and nature’s cycles.
- Year designed: 2025
- Materials: Oak, Bronze
- Finish: Gold Leaf
- Dimensions: 6000 x 500 x 6000mm
- Edition of: Unique
About the Magnus series
"Magnus is a drawing in air, an idea – an emotion expressed through form that is serene or complex, created to engage with us in a physical and intuitive way." Joseph Walsh
The title Magnus, from the Latin for large or great, reflects the scale and presence of these sculptures which encircle the viewer and redefine the architecture of the spaces for which they are designed.
The series represents a challenge in innovation to transpose Joseph Walsh’s approach to material and form from the intimate scale of an object to hold in the hand to the monumental scale of an object to stand within. The grace and flow of the finished forms belies the complex process from sketch models to design development, prototyping and engineering through which they have been realised.