Walking the edge of Margate's bathing pool
A SEASIDE stroll was made into a visual masterpiece this week as a crowd of art lovers were corralled into walking along the edge of a bathing pool.
C
-
THGW030310WALKERS-10
anterbury-based artist Hamish Fulton, who is known for his art walks, conducted a performance piece by inviting members of the public to walk around the edge wall of Margate’s boating pool for an hour.
All 197 volunteers were required to keep an equal distance of about one metre from the person in front, and the person behind as they circuited the pool seven times.
Mr Fulton, 63, an artist for 40 years, said: “I think it went fantastically well, it was really great. It is the first time I have made a work here.
“It is fantastic.
“I live in Canterbury, and so I know this part of Kent.
“The work is about experience not material.
“It might look like a sculpture but it isn’t. The participant is also the viewer.
“All my work involves walking, but always in a group.”
The work was commissioned by the Turner Contemporary and a video of the event is to be shown in the gallery once it is opened.
Comments
by Peter Checksfield, Margate
Saturday, March 06 2010, 4:32AM
“For those who support Turner Contemporary¿s latest venture (Hamish Fulton¿s early morning stroll around the beach), perhaps they should consider some of the following points¿
· Your reporter Andrew Woodman mentions 197 ¿volunteers¿, but did he actually chat to any of them? It seemed that the vast majority were college students who were told that they HAD to be there ¿ or else! My niece was one of those who very reluctantly took part, as were many of her Canterbury College colleagues.
· Perhaps a bigger indication of the popularity of this event is the amount of views the promotional video on Turner Contemporary¿s website received beforehand ¿ generally between 2 & 5 views a day.
· This was billed as Turner Contemporary¿s ¿Big Event¿, yet it was held on a school term weekday, as apparently their priority was getting some nice videos & photos rather than attracting the largest possible crowd. Doesn¿t this rather miss the point of ¿reviving¿ Margate?
· The boating pool wall was specially cleaned (it looked like it had been jet-washed) for the event, no doubt for health & safety reasons ¿ yet this is never done for the health & safety of the many thousands of kids who use this & similar pools in Thanet every summer.
I have nothing against anyone calling whatever they want ¿art¿ & that includes Hamish & his ministry of silly walks ¿ but not when it¿s of such minor interest & when I have to help fund it.
I think Thanet blogger Michael Child (via his excellent thanetonline blog) summed things up nicely:
¿You couldn¿t really make it up could you, an elite group decide that people walking round in a circle, in a particular place at a particular time is art. They then force us to pay for it and students to attend the event to watch it.¿
Turner Contemporary is doing nothing to help any local artists (I¿ve tried myself to get a little sponsorship for my own Naked in Thanet project & I¿ve also spoken to many other ¿traditional¿ artists ¿ painters, sculpture¿s, photographers, etc - & none of them have received any help or promotion.
Maybe Victoria Pomeroy should return to the real world, though I guess that¿s difficult when she¿s been payed to run a none-existent art gallery for years.
Although I¿ve had my doubts all along, I¿ve been at least giving some support to Turner Contemporary over the years, but not any longer - I look forward to the building becoming the new Primark in 2012. It will certainly attract more people to Margate.”