CMS Cameron McKenna Art Programme for New Global Head Quarters The starting point for the art programme at Cannon Place was guided by the business itself. All the art work has been chosen to either complement the architecture or to reflect the firm’s global reach and sector led business approach. On the first floor where the main collection is displayed, the impressive gallery-style spaces offered the perfect opportunity for commissioning site specific works of impressive scale, linking the artwork directly with the spacious, modern, sophisticated interior.

CMS Cameron McKenna Art Programme for New Global Head Quarters

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The suspended glass piece is an artistic rendering of the inspirational internal architecture, and is the first artwork which greats you as you enter the building on the escalator. This work compliments and graduates the space from reception to the boardroom adding both contrast and colour. The viewer will enjoy the dazzling overall effect of a work of this scale as well as appreciating at close quarters the exquisite and unique detail of each hand crafted glass section. The suspended installations weave colour with mesmerizing effect creating diluted wall reflections. They hang with a sense of fragility, the slight movement adding ethereal quality. “An informed technical understanding of glass, how it heats and cools is crucial. The coefficient expansion rate determines all. Colour changes and the introduction of alternative materials and coatings require more knowledge of compatibility with many palettes only maturing at temperature. Cold work demands many hours. I wet drill my glass with 1mm drill bits thousands of times and my suspended installations require painstaking-threading techniques developed myself. The assembly of an installation evolves with many aesthetic decisions made in progress.”

Directly behind the glass installation, sitting either side of the entrance are two striking digital photographs - C-type prints mounted on diasec. These photographs are a poignant incorporation of technological media and conceptual design; reflecting the interior space and emphasising CMS as a technology driven firm. These unusual and dramatic artworks marry nature and modernism, with abstract sleek images of light and colour, inspired by natural phenomena, emotions, or intangible ideas.

Continuing to the Boardroom, ‘Energy’ is a topographical representation of the firms energy sector. These beautiful cast concrete panels form the perfect backdrop, and the simple but effective symbolism captured in delicate porcelain allows a clear and pleasing representation of the diversity in the energy sector.

On the corridor from the main client space leading to the boardroom, ‘Human Qualities as Medicine’, a series of digital photographs is a playful commentary on the lifesciences sector. Working collaboratively with the sector head the artist has skilfully encapsulated characteristics in the industry, cunningly illustrating them as medicine vials that contain concentrated qualities.

Representing the finance sector, we have selected Tulip Mania, a series of 12 prints, referencing a period in 17C Holland, when tulips were currency. Once tulips, arrived in Europe an early enthusiasm led to a speculative frenzy known as 'tulip mania'. Tulips were so much in demand they became a form of currency. Gardens were regularly and seriously plundered. The artist uses the flowers to reference the golden age of Dutch paintings of still life in the vanitas tradition - the word meaning not vanity but meaninglessness. With every stroke the artists showed their appreciation of everyday objects, including fruit and flowers, but at the same time invited us to reflect on the brevity of beauty. And how transitory and insignificant are our human concerns and achievements. In 17C Holland the tulip bubble burst. The frantic demand for tulip bulbs boosted prices to extremely high levels, and then suddenly collapsed.

In the staff restaurant breakout area, we commissioned ‘World City Landscapes’ to illustrate CMS’s global reach and energy. This series of digitally manipulated photomontages, divided into four areas – The Americas, Europe, Middle East and Far East explore urban landscape and its cultures. These light and vibrant compositions allow us to see these cities with many different sets of eyes, creating work that is absorbing and mesmerising, amplifying the everyday, the lamppost, the traffic light, the sign – the mundane and the beautiful

CMS colleagues were encouraged to submit photographs that represented their version of “world vision”, which could be personal or client related. Working with a digital artist we commissioned a large scale photomontage depicting a global design made up of thousands of individual photographs. Eight large scale wall coverings were installed on the two working floors in areas that were visible from the shared lift areas to other tenants and their visitors. The overall effect created a clear visual link between the floors.

Outside the Business Forum we installed the Athena Collection, a project commissioned by CMS to highlight the importance of female role models, mentors and leaders within the firm, their clients and the UK Government as well as showcasing their achievements and pioneering stories to a wider audience. As well as Managing Directors, General Counsels, Chief Financial Operating Officers, Engineers, Controllers and Legal Partners in the Space industries, portraits include Fiona Woolf, the second female Lord Mayor of London in 800 years, Baroness Patricia Scotland, the first black female government minister and first female Attorney General and Helen Grant, Minister for Sport and Equalities.