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Scandinavian artist Olafur Eliasson has collaborated with author Robert MacFarlance to create a permanent art installation on the West Cumbria coastline
Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 06 Mar 2023
The work will feature a 98ft-long steel basin that fills with water twice a day to reflect the sky Credit: Copeland Borough Council
Scandinavian artist Olafur Eliasson is set to create his first permanent outdoor artwork in the UK.
Located on the West Cumbria coastline in the north-west of England, the work, provisionally titled ‘Your Daylight Destination’, will consist of a 98ft- (29.8m-) long elliptical steel basin that will fill with seawater twice a day.
It will be surrounded by a viewing platform, inspired by prehistoric rock art discovered in the region, with several rings mounted on stands. The resulting pool will act “like a mirror, reflecting the sun, moon and sky on its surface,” according to its creator.
The work has been devised in partnership with writer Robert MacFarlane and beat out competition from several artists including Turner prize-winner Rachel Whiteread, artist Roger Hiorns in partnership with architect Tom Emerson, and Dutch designer Piet Oudolf.
“The design uses the beach as a stage for an expansive artwork utilising the daily tides, seawater and light,” said a statement.
Eliasson described the piece as “a humble reflection of what is already there – the beach, the water, the sky, the plans and the animals – reframed within a space that invites self-discovery in a deep-time perspective”.
It’s likely that the piece will provide a major tourism boost for the region after more than a reported two million people visited Eliasson’s ‘The Weather Project’ at London’s Tate Modern in 2003.
‘Your Daylight Destination’ forms part of ‘Deep Time: Commissions for the Lake District Coast’ - a major new public art programme launching in the region this summer.
Commissioned by Copeland Borough Council, the Deep Time initiative is funded by Arts Council England and the British government’s Coastal Communities Fund. It’s also received financial support from nuclear waste management company Sellafield’s ‘Six: Social Impact, Multiplied’ initiative – a government-led £2.2m (US$1.83m, €2m) regeneration fund.
The Deep Time initiative will see the creation of several other artworks in coastal locations across Cumbria by artists such as Yelena Popova, Ryan Gander, Atelier Van Lieshout, Susan Philipsz, Martin Boyce and Marcus Coates, as well as five new written commissions, including a piece written by poet and artist Himali Singh Soin.
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