Abstract

Upbeat on the Riverside Steps by Lothar Götz, 2022
The risers of these three flights of steps up this staircase are divided into facetted coloured lozenges or triangles arranged into squares, the colours coming from the Progress Pride Rainbow flag – celebrating the LGBTQ+ Pride in London festival.

I imagine the work, formed of coloured shapes, akin to the pattern on a technicolour version of a red carpet, laid out as an upbeat celebration of all the progress made in that LGBTQ+ rights – and almost like the colours on a disco dance floor. However the geometric shapes include pink triangles which reference the badges that gay people had to wear – and the oppression they had to suffer – in Nazi concentration camps.

The triangular, lozenged patterning also picks up on the forms of the surrounding architecture, visible as you ascend the steps: from the triangular rooftop cap to the 1991 One Canada Square, designed by architect César Pelli to the the criss-cross filigree façade of the more recent 2020 residential tower designed by Horden Cherry Lee Architects.