Cloud-like sculptures installed in new public park

A series of cloud-like sculptures have been unveiled at a site that will eventually be home to laboratories, offices, a park and hundreds of homes.

The Length of a Moment artworks sit in the new public park at the Oxford North development - best known in the local area for the large red-roofed structure at its heart.

The trio of bronze sculptures depict the plume of scent a flower releases into the air as a moth searches for its nectar.

Artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg said the works - which are more than two metres (6.5ft) tall - "celebrate the part every living creature plays in the world we share".

"I wanted to give one of the slightest, most fleeting exchanges a form we can witness, and to invite the curiosity and empathy that come from really looking," she explained.

"To see the sculptures in the meadow they belong to, surrounded by the wildlife they are really about, is the best place this work could be."

Oxford North is based on 64 acres of land within the city's northern boundary - near to Peartree Roundabout and the A34.

It is from the new recreation ground, Canalside Park, that the three bronze sculptures now rise.

Ginsberg used computer modelling to simulate the natural occurrence between flowers and months - which is invisible to the human eye.

"I hope people slow down... and feel something of what it might be like to experience the world the way a moth does," she said.

Victoria Collett, development director of Thomas White Oxford, the firm behind the new park, said the artwork was a "beautiful expression" of the "ambition" of Oxford North.

"An artwork that sits lightly within the landscape while offering something profound for those who encounter it," she said.

Oxford City Council leader Susan Brown, who unveiled the sculptures, said public art "always has an important role to play" in the city.

"I'm delighted that this work will be here for residents, visitors and future generations to discover and enjoy," she added.