The Now, musings from Matilda

Houghton is one of only a handful of locations in Great Britain to show outdoor sculpture. The collection, displayed across the Sculpture Park, was started in around 2000 - with two works by James Turrell - and now comprises site specific commissions, acquisitions and long-term loans.

We are always delighted to acquire exciting new works, such as The Now by British Sculptor Nigel Hall, which was installed in the spring of 2025.

Here, we share a review by Matilda Craven, who is studying History of Art at Trinity College, Cambridge.

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Installed in the sweeping landscape of Houghton Hall’s Sculpture Park, The Now draws the eye along a clipped vista of hedgerows and open sky. Crafted in 2011 by Nigel Hall, this striking bronze form is patinated to a deep, greenish-black hue, giving it both weight and quiet elegance.

The Now, by Nigel Hall. Image captured by Matilda Craven.

Hall is celebrated for his sensitivity to space, light, and geometry - qualities exemplified in The Now. The sculpture’s sharply angular form establishes a strong axis through the landscape, whilst its curved planes introduce a gentle complexity that contrasts with its otherwise austere character. This duality creates a sense of balance between dynamism and meditative reflection. 

More than simply occupying its surroundings, The Now responds to them. In this way, it exemplifies what Rosalind Krauss termed “sculpture in the expanded field,” where art transcends traditional categories and is instead positioned somewhere between landscape and architecture. Hall’s work is neither an isolated object nor a built structure, but something more subtle and responsive.

Rather than being placed, The Now is situated - its meaning shaped by its relationship to the Palladian order of Houghton Hall, and the rhythm of its formal gardens. It shares the phenomenological concerns of Minimalist artists, inviting viewers to walk around it and form a unique, physical experience with the piece. 

Matilda Craven, July 2025