A new large scale artwork will be installed at Lowther Castle this spring.
Following on from the runaway success of Ten Thousand Daffodils last year, Lowther Castle and Gardens Trust will host OR in the venue’s grounds.
OR has been put together by County Durham-based artist Steve Messam.
He created PaperBridge in Grizedale (a functioning packhorse bridge made from 22,000 sheets of red ‘poppy’ paper) and Hush, which filled a lead-mining scar in the North Pennines with over five kilometres of fabric.
Steve said: “When I was invited to look at Lowther Castle as a site for a large-scale installation, I was immediately drawn to the South Lawns. Unlike many prospects for stately houses, these lawns slope down towards and not away from the castle.
“We are installing 520 gold flags across all these lawns. Each flag will measure up to 2.5m wide and 1.5m high and will fly from simple aluminium poles at a height of between three and five metres.”
Overall, the display will measure around 320m by 45m, creating an installation over five times the size of the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London.
Steve added: “The experience of coming to the gardens and walking among these flags will be highly sensory. Not only do the flags create a mass of colour but they will also crack with the wind.
“Visitors who walk to the top of the installation will gain an incredible view of the castle at the bottom of the slope, standing proud in a sea of gold. All materials, after the event, will be recycled.”
The event will benefit three James’ Place, Restore and the Lowther Church Restoration Fund.
Bryan Gray, chairman of Lowther Castle & Gardens Trust, said: “We are very excited about this installation. Lowther Castle enjoys a dramatic setting and we are delighted to use its natural assets to raise funds for charity.
“Funds will be taken as a proportion of the ticket income over the period of the installation and we are hoping to donate around £30,000 each to James’ Place, Restore and the Lowther Church Restoration Fund.
“We are also delighted that pupils from Lowther Endowed School will be involved in the event by helping us to launch it and being the event’s ‘flag-bearers’.
“At its heart, this is an event to celebrate the community of Lowther – the estate, the castle, their neighbours and followers. It is entirely appropriate that the pupils
of Lowther School are involved.”
OR will be on display from April 19 to May 6.
