It came, it saw, it Koanquered

As an icon of Warwick, the Koan has huge student interest surrounding it but despite being a potential alien space ship, having a mind of its own via Twitter and looking kind of pretty at night, how much do we actually know about this enigmatic and notorious sculpture we walk past everyday?

As part of Lilian Lijn’s Koan series it is the first of its kind, constructed in 1971, and it utilises highly original combinations of industrial materials and artistic processes. Lijn is recognised for pioneering the interaction between art, science, technology, eastern philosophy and female mythology. Lijn writes that her work is ‘a constant dialogue between opposites, [the] sculptures use light and motion to transform themselves from solid to void, opaque to transparent, formal to organic.’

Standing at 6m tall, our White Koan was installed outside the university in 1972 after moving from the Hayward Gallery in London. It is intended to represent the Buddhist quest for questions without answers, the Kōan, to test a student’s progress in Zen practice. It promotes peace, calm and thoughtfulness while also exploring light and motion in a hub of social and artistic activity.

Perhaps the Koan has failed in its quest to illicit Zen practice but it certainly has provoked the ‘great doubt’ in a number of students. Over the years it has become the centre of some student myths including that it stands over a tunnel which allows senior staff to escape from their neighbouring headquarters, that it was the nose cone of a failed Apollo mission, and that someone lived inside it. So much speculation has led to the Koan becoming one of the most iconic pieces of art on campus and thus in the age of social networking, the Koan has been personified through Twitter (@warwickkoan), created into memes and placed into comic strips. Its popularity also sparked a petition to change the university logo to include an image of the Koan. Its presence is at the heart of Warwick student life.