Photos: The amazing Littoral Light exhibition on the beach

Littoral Light Photo Brian Whitehead

Some 2,000 people visited the stunning Littoral Light exhibition at the Dumpton Gap sands last night (July 28).

As the sun set the display by 40 British and international artists lit up with Ramsgate as the backdrop for works of sculpture, installation, sound, and light.

The art was installed, curated and shown in the short time frame between 9pm and 10.30pm before the tide returned.

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Visitors to the exhibition were invited to become part of the show by bringing along their torches and lanterns to light their way as they discovered the works amongst the rocks, sand, caves, and cliffs.

In 2016, 15 artists exhibited. This year many more UK and International artists came forward to take part.

Littoral Light was created by Article 10, a Thanet-based artist collective that worked in partnership with Ramsgate Arts. The group was formed in 2016 to pioneer innovative approaches to public art in unusual public spaces.

The exhibition was part of the Ramsgate Festival which comes to an end tomorrow (July 30).

Works

Artist: Julia Rogers

Artwork: Folkloric (sculpture)

Treasure has been found washed up on the beach relinquished from its watery grave.

We are not quite sure how long it will remain on the beach as the tide will surely reclaim it as quickly as it arrived.

Is it a ribcage of a huge mythical beast that once swam the deep oceans or the remains of a celestial boat that transports the sun on its journey through the sky and the underworld.

Artist: Samara Jones-Hall

Artwork: I Went Fishing One Day (sculpture)

30 hand-cast clear resin phosphorescent fishes glittering in the moonlight. Embedded and encapsulated within each fish is an eclectic collection of plastic toys, beads, jewellery and assorted ephemera. This sculpture addresses the issue of more than 8 million tonnes of plastic waste entering the oceans annually.

Artists: Julia Rogers and Vivienne Yankah (performance)

Artwork: Halo of Influence

Two white ghost ships with flocking birds wander along the beach in a tortuous wiggly path representing the foraging behaviour of birds at sea. Upon locating an interesting ‘find’ the ships will move in a direct straight line to the source.

Dressed as figure heads with a bustle that resembles a small fishing boat and carrying a lantern we will walk about the beach with our flock of birds following behind interacting with the audience and installations.

A fishing boat creates a ‘halo of influence’ across an area of 7 mile radius. Birds alter their flight patterns from a distance when they see an active fishing boat but will ignore other boats.

Artists: Tess King and Mark Shepherd

Artwork: I Am A Message (interactive live sculpture)

Internally lit sculpture of flint stone (picked from the beach during 2016 Littoral Light exhibition) featuring the words “Am I An Island?”. Set in pool of water, with floating plastic bottles. People are invited to write messages on the night of the 2017 exhibition, and place them in the bottles. Messages to be simultaneously tweeted @IAmAMessage

Artist: Claire Orme

Artwork; A Siren’s Nocturne (sound performance)

Artist Claire Orme will walk along the beach with her violin, performing an improvised piece that responds to the changing tide, the artworks and the audience. The piece will also explore the myth of the siren– dangerous creatures who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. She will become a contemporary siren, hoping to lure visitors along the front and around the works. Her outfit will further explore the idea of a contemporary siren using sequins, which will both dazzle and navigate.

Artist Susan Allbert, New York

Artwork: Lost (Installation)

“Lost” takes inspiration from old embroidery samplers once used as a way to record and to educate through moral verses. Three hanging panels of hessian with luminescent needlepoint installed along the cliff face examine notions of displacement and belonging. The works are inspired by the Ramsgate shelters on the promenade and the people who are homeless that live in them.

Artist: Chiara Williams

Artwork: Orbit

For Littoral Light, a sculptural drawing of lights and mirrors will trace the trajectory of the planet Venus’s orbit and constellations echoing an excerpt from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities: “Work stops at sunset. Darkness falls over the site. The sky is filled with stars”.

Artist: Gary Perkins (sculptural projection)

Artwork: Hot Matters/Cold Matters

Short, abstract, silent film of everyday objects, materials and sites changing between hot and cold states, captured using a Thermal Imaging Camera changing between hot and cold states.

Artist: NickPage

Artwork:                         (offshore installation)

An offshore installation of lights triggered by the movement of the waves illuminating the natural rhythm of the sea.

Artists:  FletcherGray

Artwork: Polychaeta (installation)

70 million years ago the white cliffs of Ramsgate where formed from tiny skeletons of sea creatures. For one night only these sea creatures will rise again and illuminate the spectacular cliff face of Ramsgate beach.

Artist: Nozomi Watanabe, Japan

Artwork: Nomadic Stars (installation)

Four stars made in the Czech Republic will adorn the sands of Ramsgate beach. Once nomadic people used stars in the sky to know their own locations and regarded the stars as a guide during their migrations around the word.

Artists: Baby Forest, West Cork, Ireland. 

Artwork: Shinrin-Yoku (sound installation)

Bringing the sounds of a coastal forest of Ireland this piece connects two beautiful coastal communities.

Photo Gallery by Brian Whitehead, Adam Dark and Angela Stevens