Night Sun

When you receive news of an art installation accompanied with the aside – ‘ the civil aviation authority has been notified’ – you know it’s going to be something pretty special.

The Opposite of All Those Things 2008

Source: Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, UK

The Opposite of All Those Things 2008

Sleepers Awake, by Heather and Ivan Morison, is a huge celestial body, which will appear in the sky over Kent tomorrow night, creating an otherworldly ‘night sun’, visible from as far as 21 miles away.

The gargantuan art installation will appear low in the sky above the estuary at the mouth of Milton Creek in Sittingbourne. Following its launch, the piece will rise into the sky – eventually reaching a height of about 120 metres – before then sinking behind the skyline again at dawn.

Heather and Ivan Morison ‘Sleepers Awake’: showing construction of ‘Night Sun’
Heather and Ivan Morison ‘Sleepers Awake’: showing construction of ‘Night Sun’

The Morisons are a Welsh artistic duo, who create sculptural pieces that aim to act as a catalyst for public debate and discussion.

Heather and Ivan Morison ‘Sleepers Awake’: showing construction of ‘Night Sun’
Heather and Ivan Morison ‘Sleepers Awake’: showing construction of ‘Night Sun’

They say, ‘What goes on here through the nights of this comet’s visit? People return, ideas are germinated, new nocturnal alliances are formed, a place is transformed. The sleepers of Sittingbourne awake to their future.’

Sleepers Awake will take the form of a helium filled sphere, attached to a floating platform on Milton’s Creek with steel tether. The platform will be attached to a barge, making the piece move along the water, gradually getting closer to Sittingbourne.

Organisers say, ‘The stillness and quietness of the night heightens the visitors senses – inviting them to look again at their surroundings – the muddy undulating creek, its greened over tips and their homes and town in the distance.’

 

Sleepers Awake will be in situ from 1 – 27 October.

For more information visit http://www.artlandsnorthkent.org.uk/

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  • Dark sky Sun November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    This is ine of the most obscene excuses for art I have encountered. It is disgusting that this should be allowed to occur, light pollution is already too high in the UK.

  • Jason Thompson November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I agree! This is an appalling bit of light pollution. Do the organisers know that light pollution is now covered by law as just as much of a nuisance as noise or other pullution? And of course let’s not worry about any amateur astronomers who might not care to have a whacking great light 400 feet in the air all night. I am disgusted.

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