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The exhibition Lookout uses the Old Coastguard's Lookout house
on the promenade in Cromer as a site for video installation. It
is viewed from the exterior, the promenade area.
There is an illusion created of the building as a complete sculptural
work that contains figures and fills up with water and empties
reflecting the tides. Viewers look into the interior of the building
as faces look out through lenses. The windows become the lenses
themselves and the house filled with moving oversize figures who
peer out. The work is created with video back projections in selected
windows. The idea of looking and watching is amplified by the
subject of the videos. Those looking out are no longer the coastguards
but are children's faces, the children of Cromer.
The
work was developed by the artist, Beverley Carpenter. She worked
for one week, with the children of Cromer Junior School using
lenses, working with light and colour. They separated light into
colour using optical devices and looked at local lenses such as
that of the Cromer lighthouse. During this week subject material
for the artist's installation work was gathered. The final installation
changes the viewer's perception of the building, scale and social
ideas around Cromer and beyond. The artist asks us to question
particularly the position of young people in the town, now part
of a regeneration scheme. The question is raised of who is looking
at whom, and who is inside and who is outside. This installation
work shows children looking out over the sea through various lenses.
Water rises and falls in the windows reflecting the sea tides
inside and outside the building.
The
work was commissioned is part of Cromer Prospect, a public art
scheme, initiated by North Norfolk District Council which celebrates
200 years of Cromer lifeboats. Lead artist David Ward, has created
a new promenade area, lighting and pier forecourt in front of
the Old Lookout.
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