Artists names: Alison Neighbour (Build by Cosmic Creations; Creative Technologist Steve Symons)
West Hythe Lighthouse sits on the future shoreline and responds to global tidal data. It invites viewers to reflect on the impermanence of the land we take for granted, and to consider how we might adapt to our shrinking landscape.
A lighthouse is sited in the flat rural landscape of West Hythe, 1.5 miles from the current coastline. The light links via the Global Sea Level Observing System to a tidal buoy near Chittagong, Bangladesh, and it flashes when the land there is threatened by the rising tide. It signals a stark warning of what is already happening in many places in the world and what is to come here in the future.
A walk is marked from the lighthouse to the current coastline at Dymchurch Redoubt, encouraging visitors to participate in a walk back in time from the future to the present, and experience in their own bodies the scale of land, habitat, and community that could be lost to sea-level rise.
Group walks will take place on 12th August at 2pm and 18th Sept at 10.30am, starting at Unit 1, providing the opportunity to discuss the work and the themes with the artist and your fellow walkers. Groups Walks will take approximately 2.5 hours (with a break). Please email [email protected] to book a place, and have a look at the "practical guidance for walkers" here: http://alisonneighbourdesign.com/artist/west-hythe-lighthouse/
West Hythe Lighthouse is a prototype. It could be the first of many lighthouses in similar communities. The intention is to start a conversation; to connect people to think creatively about how we adapt to the future, and how we respond to the changes we must navigate as the impacts of climate crisis are felt here and abroad.
Alison Neighbour is an installation artist and designer for performance working in site responsive and unusual spaces. She seeks to use art to activate and empower communities and connect people and place.
Development supported by Pervasive Media Studio, National Theatre Wales, Creative Europe, and Natural Resources Wales. This installation was funded by Folkestone & Hythe District Council.
