New Night Sun Will Appear in Skies Over North Kent in October

PRESS RELEASE

New ‘night sun’ will appear in skies over North Kent in October

Artlands Milton Creek Commission October 1st to 27th 2011 Heather and Ivan Morison – Sleepers Awake

Opening Saturday 8th October 2011 7.30 – 9.00pm

A huge ‘night sun’ will appear in the skies directly above North Kent in October. This vast celestial body, emitting an unworldly light, will be clearly visible from as far as 21 miles away. The civil aviation authority has been notified about the launch.

As dusk falls on Saturday October 1st the giant art work will appear low in the sky above the estuary at the mouth of Milton Creek, Sittingbourne, UK. Each successive evening it will rise still higher in the sky and as dawn breaks it will sink slowly beneath the skyline. Throughout the month it will travel progressively closer to Sittingbourne.

‘Sleepers Awake’ is a major new Artlands commission by internationally renowned artists Heather and Ivan Morison who create work that features semi-fictional narratives blending fact with illusion, histories and possible futures. The sculptures they create, often placed in the public realm, act as catalysts for urgent discussions about distant events that might happen, their work acknowledges the presence of threat. Ivan and Heather Morison who represented Wales at the 52nd Venice Biennale of Art ask “What goes on here through the nights of this suns visit? People return, ideas are germinated, new nocturnal alliances are formed, a place is transformed. The sleepers of Sittingbourne awake to their future.”.

The work will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people as it will be visible in the wide-open skies of the region throughout selected days in October. The structure will be tethered by a steel cable to a platform floating on Milton Creek which in turn will be towed by a barge, allowing the ‘night sun’ to move. The interior will house a bespoke high powered lighting rig. The landscape will be transformed. The brightness of the lights will be powerful enough to create a vivid ball of light in the sky redefining the hues and contours of the post-industrial landscape beneath. It is predicted that the strangeness of the spectacle will attract huge numbers of night-time visitors to Milton Creek as a growing number of people become aware of the artwork. ‘Sleepers Awake’ is being fabricated by Bristol based Cameron Balloons who are world specialists in hot-air balloon construction and have been involved in many important world record projects.

The artwork will be guarded by local residents.

‘Sleepers Awake’ is a major new public realm commission for North Kent and has been realised within the context of Church Marshes Country Park - a major regeneration project. The commission will re-unite the community of Sittingbourne with a forgotten area of the town and acts as a beacon – heralding the future of an area which will continue to embrace change and evolution.

“As dusk falls a new star appears low in the sky, far off in the estuary at the mouth of Milton Creek. It shines bright in the night sky, a strange visitor emitting an unworldly light, sinking slowly below the skyline as dawn breaks. Each successive evening it rises still higher in the sky and each day its moves closer along the Creek. For miles around it is visible in the wide-open skies of north Kent; a beacon for what lies beneath. Each night the residents of Sittingbourne look out to see its progress and slowly they are drawn from their homes, down to the Creek where the landscape has been transformed by this night sun, its cool green glow redefining the hues and contours of this strangely evocative stretch of post-industrial landscape. 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. People return night after night, ideas are germinated, a place transformed.”

Contact: Simon Steven Artlands Press Office Tel: 01843 596 194 E: [email protected]

Notes for Editors:

About Artlands

Artlands is a contemporary art programme which explores North Kent’s identity through a series of public realm commissions - responding to and engaging with the unique qualities of the area; its landscapes, its heritage and its people.

Artlands will create multiple and varied opportunities for artists to work in North Kent and will be a cumulative programme, beginning with the delivery of three commissions which respond to specific opportunities within the region.

Developing real and meaningful engagement with North Kent’s communities is a key priority for Artlands and each commission will incorporate a significant and integrated community engagement programme devised to create opportunities for involvement and participation. Artlands will initially be delivered through a series of collaborations in order to share knowledge and expertise, maximise available resources and establish long-term relationships between collaborating partners and their communities. This approach will also enable Artlands to offer a strong level of support to artists: encouraging ambition, innovation and excellence with the aim of creating exceptional public realm commissions that have the potential to impact locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. The Artlands programme sits within Greening the Gateway Kent and Medway (GGKM), which is a partnership of public, private and third sector organisations that works to enhance and protect the natural environment, improve access to the countryside and transform people’s perceptions of North Kent so that it becomes widely known as a great place to live, work, invest and relax.

About Heather & Ivan Morison

Heather and Ivan Morison work collaboratively and make art as an active engagement with materials, histories, sites and processes. The Morisons’ have produced sculpture, photographs, installations and buildings, and site-specific projects internationally, including the establishment of an arboretum in a remote village in Wales. More recently they are known for their architecture structures that relate to ideas of escape, shelter and refuge, the transformation of the modern city, weight and levity, solidity and transparency; the construction of which are very often part of a broad community effort.

Heather Peak was born in Desborough, UK in 1973 and Ivan Morison was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1974. They are based in Brighton, UK and Arthog, North West Wales. Their work has been exhibited widely in the UK and abroad, including Tate Britain, Barbican and the 52nd Venice Biennale where they represented Wales. Current shows include Anna Swartz, Sydney, Or Gallery, Berlin, Artspeak, Vancouver, The Hepworth, Wakefield and Southbank, London." www.morison.info www.artlands.org.uk www.ggkm.org.uk http://www.swale.gov.uk/milton-creek-landscape-project-update/

The Artlands Milton Creek Commission is supported by Arts Council England, Homes and Communities Agency (Parklands), Kent County Council and Swale Borough Council.