Silecroft: New artwork revealed for Cumbrian beach

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Artist impression of people looking in a long reflective pool on a beach reflecting the clouds and sunImage source, Deep Time
Image caption,

A 98ft (30m)-long mirror pool will be installed as part of the artwork

A new artwork has been chosen to be put on a Cumbrian beach.

The piece, provisionally called Your Daylight Destination, has been designed for a site near Silecroft by Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson and British writer Robert Macfarlane.

It is to be installed as part of the Deep Time: Commissions for the Lake District Coast art series in Copeland, which will launch this summer.

It will feature a viewing platform and a 98ft (30m)-long pool on the beach.

Deep Time will feature seven new permanent artworks along the coast as well as a series of new pieces of writing and an artist residency programme.

Image source, Deep Time
Image caption,

The work will be installed near Silecroft

Organisers said the Silecroft work would feature the "elliptical steel pool" overlooked by a viewing platform featuring a series of large circles inspired by prehistoric rock art called "cup and ring".

Viewers standing on the platform should "see the rings appear in alignment as concentric circles around the foreshortened steel pool, which forms a perfect circle", a spokeswoman said.

Image source, Deep Time
Image caption,

Viewers from the platform should see the three circles and mirrored pool line up perfectly

The pool will be submerged twice a day by the high water and when the tide is out it will "act like a mirror, reflecting the sun, moon and sky", she added.

Mr Eliasson said he was "delighted" to be chosen, adding: "In a sense it is a humble reflection of what is already there - the beach, the water, the sky, the plants and animals - reframed within a space that invites self-discovery in a deep-time perspective."

Curator Aldo Rinaldi said: "Olafur and Robert's proposal cleverly captured the essence of the coast, utilising its core elements to generate a simple yet epic design."

Copeland mayor Mike Starkie said the installation would "bring visitors from far and wide to see a unique and large-scale piece of art in a stunning location".

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