Media Information – Text Only
Media Release: August / September News 2008
The Bathing Beauties® project has evolved since it was first conceived by artist Michael Trainor, as an international design competition for artists and architects to ‘Re-imagine the Beach Hut for the 21st Century’.
Conceived by Michael Trainor in response to his appointment as lead artist on the Lincolnshire coast, UK in 2005; Bathing Beauties® has put this superb by partly forgotten 15 kilometre stretch of Lincolnshire coastline from Mablethorpe to Anderby Creek on the worldwide map. Over 240 (1:15 scale model) entries were received from over 15 countries in the international design competition to ‘Re-imagine the Beach Hut for the 21st Century’ and win a commission to build designs full-scale. Thesuccess of Bathing Beauties®idea evolved from 2005 – 2008 into three distinctive elements:
Bathing Beauties®: Huts on Parade
Five Bathing Beauties® beach huts derived from the international competition to ‘Re-imagine the Beach Hut for the 21st Century’ are now built full-scale and permanently installed dotted along a 15 kilometre stretch of the Lincolnshire coast, UK. The huts, which belong to East Lindsey District Council and will be available directly from them for daily hire are: Come Up And See Meby lead artist and Bathing Beauties® director Michael Trainor, inspired by a gin and tonic, perfect for cocktail sipping at sunset and situated on Mablethorpe South Promenade; The Mablethorpe Camera Obscuraan amazing new Bathing Beauty by Willett and Patteson, based on the popular Victorian attraction; a darkened chamber with a moveable lens and mirror through which live images of the coast are projected onto a viewing surface; Eyes Wide sHutby Feix and Merlin, a glamorous ‘picture frame’ hut designed to frame the landscape when open and give privacy to occupants when closed by way of a special one-way mirror; Halcyon Hut by Atelier NU pays homage to the traditional beach hut form and is crafted from western red cedar and acrylic panels to allow shafts of light to travel through the walls and roof creating dancing shadows in daylight and an abstract glowing beacon of nightime light from inside out; Jabbaby i-am associates, the world’s first contemporary cave, located in an idyllic spot in the Sand Dunes in North Mablethorpe. The following Bathing Beauties commissions will be permanently installed on the Lincolnshire coast, UK during 2009: A Hut for Gazing and Canoodling by ‘we made that’, conceived as a piece of furniture for the promenade this original hideaway Bathing Beauty houses a plush and patterned interior and Oyster Pleasance by The Beach Hut Salon, based on an oyster shell, this original Bathing Beauty is a full-scale commission and currently on UK tour with Bathing Beauties®: Hub Touring Exhibition.
New for 2008! Two additional official Bathing Beauties® - innovative art meets architecture in small building structures - for bird watching and cloud viewing will be installed in late 2008. Both to be situated at Anderby Creek, a remote area of the Lincolnshire coast, UK will be The Round and Round House (Bird Hide) designed by Kingston and Weber of Soma Design, a curvaceous small building selected from the international Bathing Beauties® competitions as ideal for the purposes of bird-watching; and The Cloud Bar by Michael Trainor, the UKs first permanent cloud watching outpost, a unique small building made from larch, acrylic and concrete and featuring a cloud-spotting menu, specially designed cloud-viewing seating and self-operated parabolic cloud-mirrors to magic the sky down to the earth. The Cloud Bar will be officially endorsed by the Cloud Appreciation Society. www.cloudappreciationsociety.org
Festival of Bathing Beauties®
The second Festival of Bathing Beauties® coordinated by Mantle Arts, UK, took place over the weekend of Sat 20 and Sun 21 September 2008 in Mablethorpe and Sutton-On-Sea. The inaugural festival, the UK’s only Beach Hut Festival, took place in September 2007 and attracted over 10,000 new visitors to a 15km promenade stretch of blue-flag award-winning beaches between Mablethorpe and Anderby Creek, Lincolnshire, UK. Along the promenade, hundreds of public and privately owned beach huts are on display many featuring a range of spectacular, bizarre, incredible and beautiful events and performances inside. Up to 50 ‘Beautiful Beach Hut’ competition entries – huts specially decorated inside and out by their proud owners are also on public display. The bold new Bathing Beauties® Huts on Parade are on display and free events on the beach and seafront including music, food, storytelling, puppet shows and temporary art installations plus fireworks and firesculptures in the evening make for an unforgettable weekend with friends and family. Over 10,000 new visitors attended the Festival of Bathing Beauties® in September 2007, it was the busiest Mablethorpe had been in 30 years with many international visitors coming to the Lincolnshire coast for the first time. www.bathingbeautiesfestival.org
Bathing Beauties®: A Hub Touring Exhibition
The Bathing Beauties®: Hub Touring Exhibition features up to 100 scale models by artists and architects which re-invent the British Beach Hut for the first time in 300 years. The exhibition, co-curated by Michael Trainor from the 240 scale model entries received from 15 countries in the international Bathing Beauties® competitions to ‘Re-imagine the Beach Hut for the 21st Century’ premiered at the Hub: National Centre for Craft & Design in 2007. It attracted over 10,000 during its 10 week premiere and has subsequently toured to France and England’s Northwest. The exhibition, which also features a full-scale Bathing Beauty® Oyster Pleasance, will tour to Montreal in Canada in 2009 and is available for hire until 2010.
Bathing Beauties® is a Registered Trademark. It aims to promote the British seaside for the enjoyment of visitors and the local communities, generating cultural and economic benefits for seaside towns.
The Lincolnshire Coastal Art Project is part financed by European Regional Development Fund
Partners are: Lincolnshire County Council, East Lindsey District Council and the local parish councils.
For further information about the artists / architects of the Bathing Beauties® 21st Century Beach Hut International Competition winners in 2006, please visit www.bathingbeauties.org.uk and click on Archive or see Media Release October 2006 in the Media Information page.
Festival of Bathing Beauties® information: visit www.bathingbeautiesfestival.org For information/images contact:
Matthew Pegg, matthew@mantlearts.org.uk Tel:+44(0)1530 830811 or
Helen Matthews on helen.matthews9@btopenworld.com Tel: +44 (0)789 4292641
Bathing Beauties®: A Hub Touring Exhibition: for further information contact Melanie Kidd at The Hub: National Craft & Design Centre. melanie.kidd@thehubcentre.info Tel: +44 (0)1529 308710
For local, regional news enquiries/ interviews/images, please contact the Communications Team, East Lindsey District Council: james.gilbert@e-lindsey.gov.uk or Ian.bustin@e-lindsey.gov.uk Tel: +44 (0)1507 329583
Notes for editors:
Bathing Beauties® www.bathingbeauties.org.uk
The bold new Bathing Beauties® Beach Huts On Parade are permanent installations on the Lincolnshire coast, UK between Mablethorpe and Anderby Creek. They are commissions from the international art and architecture competition led by Michael Trainor to ‘Re-imagine the Beach Hut’ and they are art installations for public enjoyment. These permanent constructions are all now owned by East Lindsey District Council who are in charge of hiring out the huts on a daily rental basis.
Come Up And See Me
Designed by Michael Trainor, Manchester, UK
Inspired by a gin and tonic, perfect for cocktail sipping at sunset and situated on Mablethorpe South Promenade, this Bathing Beauty original is made of vitrified tiles, mirror, laminated ply-wood and galvanised steel.
Eyes Wide sHut
Designed by Feix and Merlin, London, UK www.feixandmerlin.com
A glamorous ‘picture frame’ hut designed to frame the landscape when open and give privacy to occupants when closed by way of a special one-way viewing mirror. An original Bathing Beauty made from GRP, timber and polycarbonate and located at 37 Mablethorpe South Promenade.
Halcyon Hut
Designed by Atelier NU, Montreal, Canada www.aletiernu.com
Paying homage to the ‘traditional’ beach hut form, this original Bathing Beauty is expertly crafted from western red cedar and uses acrylic panels to allow shafts of light to travel through the walls and roof. Light dances through the interior during the day and when night falls, light from inside travels out creating an abstract glowing beacon. Located at 68 Sutton South Promenade, Sutton on Sea.
Jabba
Designed by i-am associates, London, UK www.i-amonline.com
The world’s first contemporary cave, located in an idyllic spot in the Sand Dunes by the Sea View Car Park at North Mablethorpe. This original Bathing Beauty is perfect for families but has limited access due to unique location in the dunes on the beach. It is made from laminated ply-wood, paint and acrylic.
Mablethorpe Camera Obscura
Designed by Willett and Patteson, Lewes, UK www.amazingcameraobscura.co.uk
An amazing new Bathing Beauty based on the popular Victorian attraction; a darkened chamber with a moveable lens and mirror through which live images of the coast are projected onto a viewing surface. Ideal for photographic enthusiasts, or just the plain curious. An octagonal painted timber structure located on Mablethorpe South Shore Promenade.
The following Bathing Beauties commissions will be permanently installed on the Lincolnshire coast, UK during 2008/2009
A Hut for Gazing and Canoodling
Designed by we made that, London, UK www.wemadethat.co.uk
A winning commission, conceived as a piece of furniture for the promenade this original hideaway Bathing Beauty will house a plush patterned interior, printed glazed wall and a second storey contemplative seat. It is intended to be sited somewhere on the Lincolnshire coast, UK in 2009.
Oyster Pleasance
Designed by The Beach Hut Salon, London, UK www.a-models.co.uk
Based on an oyster shell, this original Bathing Beauty is a full-scale commission and currently on UK tour with Bathing Beauties®: A Hub Touring Exhibition (see page 2). This beautiful shell opens to reveal a circular seating area and the whole structure can be rotated to face the sun. In due course, it will be permanently situated somewhere on the Lincolnshire coast, UK.
The Bathing Beauties® project has also spawned additional small structures on the coast of Lincolnshire including a new bird hide and the UKs first permanent cloud watching structure, both situated in the remote district of Anderby Creek, Lincolnshire, UK.
The Round and Round House (Bird Hide)
Designed by Kingston and Weber of Soma Design, Morecambe, UK
This original small building was selected from the international Bathing Beauties® competitions as ideal for the purposes of bird-watching. It will be made from curved laminated plywood and will be open all year round and round when located in November 2008, off-track at Anderby Creek. Accessibility will be limited due to its unique location in dunes off the beach and up a narrow wooden pathway. Additional information is available in Future Projects on the Bathing Beauties website.
The Cloud Bar
Designed by Michael Trainor, Manchester, UK
The UKs first permanent cloud watching outpost. A unique small building made from larch, acrylic and concrete and featuring a cloud-spotting menu, specially designed cloud-viewing seating and self-operated parabolic cloud-mirrors to magic the sky down to the earth. It will be situated in a quiet spot at Anderby Creek, adjacent to the beach at the top of the pull-over from the car park. It is intended to be complete by late October 2008 and will be officially endorsed by the Cloud Appreciation Society. www.cloudappreciationsociety.org. Additional information is available in Future Projects on the Bathing Beauties website.
Intellectual Property Information:
Bathing Beauties® and Bathing Beauties logo® is a Registered Trademark.
Image Copyright: All photographic images are copyright. Images cannot be reproduced for publication without prior consent of Bathing Beauties®. Publication quality images can be obtained upon request from press@bathingbeauties.org.uk
Design Copyright: Copyright of all designs lies with the originator and all designs are the
intellectual property of the originator and cannot be reproduced in two or three or four dimensions without prior permission. For further details, please contact press@bathingbeauties.org.uk
Michael Trainor Biography: Bathing Beauties® Director and Curator Michael Trainor is a professional artist based in Manchester, UK. He has been involved in over 70 temporary and permanent works in public spaces including ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’, the world’s largest mirrorball for Blackpool seafront. Current projects include Bathing Beauties®: Art meets Architecture on the Coast, involving ‘Re-imagining of the Beach Hut for the 21st Century’ and innovative small building structures comprising the UKs first official Cloud Viewing outpost on the Lincolnshire coast. Recent work includes ‘Garston Embassy’ a major new artwork for Liverpool Capital of Culture 2008.
www.greatpromenadeshow.co.uk www.bathingbeauties.org.uk www.biennial.com