Press
The Hub: National Centre for Craft & Design UK presents
Bathing Beauties: A World Premiere
'Re-Imagining the Beach Hut for the 21st Century'
An international exhibition of over one hundred models designed by artists and architects, which re-imagine the British beach hut for the first time in three hundred years.
The exhibition launches especially for Architecture Week, UK, 2007.
Fri 15 June - Sun 2 Sept 2007, The Hub: National Centre for Craft & Design, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, UK.
The Bathing Beauties exhibition evolved from the Bathing Beauties international competition which inspired 240 architects, artists and designers from 15 countries to compete for commissions to build their designs on the stunning Lincolnshire coast, UK. The competition, organised in 2006 by lead artist Michael Trainor, elicited one of the most exciting responses to any architectural competition this century. One hundred selected models, showing the incredible virtuosity of approach will be on show.
‘The Beach Hut is one of the few building forms which has been seriously overlooked by contemporary architects the world over. They are perceived as a treasured feature of our coastal landscape, as quintessentially British as fish and chips and the knotted hanky, but in reality are usually little more than a painted shed’. Michael Trainor, Lead Artist & Project Curator
The brief to re-imagine the simple beach hut produced an amazing array of design solutions which catapult our ideas of seaside micro-architecture into a new aesthetic rather than an endless pastiche of imaginary heritage. Traditional seaside references are gone, replaced by structures incorporating wind turbines, saunas, camera obscura, viewing platforms and space-ace materials with only the most oblique of witty nods to sandcastles and stripey windbreaks.
Striking, unconventional and surprising many of the models celebrate the idea of happening upon something by chance when strolling along the beach, whilst others are bold creative exercises in space, light and line.
Examples which will be on show at the exhibition include: Jabba by i-am associates Ltd, London, UK which is a 21st century cave of laminated wood and glass whose organic form wouldn’t look out of place in one of the desert scenes of starwars; The Wizard of Oz by Lionel T Dean, Future Factories, Lincolnshire UK, a ‘twister’ of a beach-hut which plays with the idea of being boarded up out-of-season; Cheese 42 by Christian Uhl, Germany, literally a giant cheese block with surprisingly practical features; Alien Drum Sensorium by Alasdair Tooze, Gareth Hoskins, UK, inspired by beach detritus such as washed-up containers and features a sound-amplifying horn for deeper enjoyment of the crashing waves.
The diversity of design approaches demonstrated in the exhibition are reflective of not only the infinite number of possible solutions to a simple design brief, but also to the seemingly universal appeal of the beach-hut with models from artists, designers and architects from the UK, USA, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Singapore, India, China, Russia, Japan and Israel. A full list of designs on show available upon request.
The exhibition is also a testimony to the recent resurgence of interest in our coastal economies. This bold approach is indicative of the need for small towns to make big statements in the attempt to reverse the declining coastal economy in the UK.
Alongside the architectural models, the exhibition features an extraordinary full-scale beach hut, Oyster Pleasance, designed by a team including architect Will Alsop and A-Models, which visitors can sit inside and dream.
Nine of the models on display are in the process of being commissioned for full-scale construction in Summer 2007 along a 10mile stretch of coast between Mablethorpe and Chapel St. Leonards on the Linconshire coast, UK. These innovative new beach huts will be available for daily hire from East Lindsey District Council. These will be the subject of further press releases as installation dates approach.
The Bathing Beauties exhibition at the Hub will be accompanied by educational resource material and a series of talks by Bathing Beauties Lead Artist & Project Curator Michael Trainor and a selection of the exhibitors. The exhibition will be available for tour from March 2008. Please contact the Hub for details.
EXHIBITION LISTINGS INFORMATION
Fri 15 June – Sun 2 September 2007
The Hub: National Centre for Craft & Design presents
Bathing Beauties: A World Premiere
‘Re- imagining the Beach Hut for the 21st Century’
An international exhibition of one hundred models designed by artists and architects,
which re-imagine the British beachhut for the first time in three hundred years. The exhibition launches especially for Architecture Week, UK 2007.
Opening Hours: 10am – 5pm, Mon – Sun.
Admission: Free
Venue: The Hub: National Centre for Craft & Design
Navigation Wharf, Carre Street, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, NG34 7TW, UK.
Tel: +44 (0)1529 308710 Fax: +44 (0)1529 308711
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THURSDAY 14 JUNE 2007, 6pm – 8pm
PRIVATE VIEW & PRESS LAUNCH: BATHING BEAUTIES EXHIBITION
Please contact Mia Thornton (Exhibitions Officer, the Hub) for press passes and further information.
hubofficer@leisureconnection.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)1529 308710
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NOTES TO EDITORS
Funding is being sought for a national/international tour of the Bathing Beauties exhibition in 2007/2008.
Bathing Beauties: The Bathing Beauties exhibition has developed out of the Bathing Beauties international competition, a project conceived by Lead Artist Michael Trainor to create a series of dramatic and beautiful new seaside architecture for a superb but partly forgotten 10 mile stretch of Lincolnshire coastline, UK, from Mablethorpe to Chapel St. Leonards.
Michael was appointed by Lincolnshire County Council in 2005 and his big idea Bathing Beauties, put the Lincolnshire coast on the world-wide map with the launch of an international competition which took place in 2006 for artists, architects and designers to re-imagine the beach hut for the 21st century, with entries by scale model.
The aim of Bathing Beauties project is to create a linear gallery of bold new beach huts and other seaside structures with innovative architecture as the linking theme. Nine of the designs entered have been selected for full-scale construction in 2007 and these innovative new beach huts will be available for daily hire from the East Lindsey District Council. The Lincolnshire coast will be the first area in the UK to see significant re-imagining of traditional seaside architecture – this innovative linear gallery will unfold over a period of two to three years. 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.
Michael Trainor: Lead Artist and Project Curator is a professional artist based in Manchester, UK. Michael has been involved in over 60 temporary and permanent works of art in public spaces including They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? – the world’s shiniest artwork and largest mirrorball for Blackpool seafront. His beach hut design ‘Come Up and See Me’ will be installed on the Lincolnshire Coast in Summer 2007.
The Hub: National Centre for Craft & Design opened in October 2003. Located in the rural market town of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, The Hub is the largest space in the UK dedicated to the promotion and celebration of contemporary craft and design. As well as a café bar and shop The Hub provides two gallery spaces with a changing programme of international and national craft and design. The exhibition will appeal to:
The Bathing Beauties exhibition will be accompanied by educational resource material and a series of talks by Bathing Beauties Lead Artist & Project Curator Michael Trainor and a selection of exhibitors. Please contact the Hub for details.