Designed by creative studio Newsubstance for the government-funded festival “Unboxed: Creativity in the UK”, See Monster is one of the largest public art installations in the story of the United Kingdom.
North Sea offshore platform becomes a piece of art
As a part of the “Unboxed” festival in Weston-super-Mare, England, See Monster showcases how industrial structures can be reused.
Courtesy Ben Birchall
Courtesy Ben Birchall
Courtesy Ben Birchall
Courtesy Ben Birchall
Courtesy Ben Birchall
Courtesy Ben Birchall
Courtesy Ben Birchall
Courtesy Ben Birchall
Courtesy Ben Birchall
Courtesy Ben Birchall
Photo Neil O’Donoghue
Photo Neil O’Donoghue
Photo Neil O’Donoghue
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- Lucia Brandoli
- 30 September 2022
The 450-tonne four-story offshore platform has been located in a shallow pool on the Weston-super-Mare seafront, in Somerset. Its top levels hold a wild garden composed of plants suitable for the Atlantic weather. The art installation features a multi-level slide, a broadcast studio, and an amphitheater, while the platform’s former helideck now functions as a viewpoint and a waterfall falls 10 meters from the bottom floor.
Kinetic artworks on the platform were designed with reference to meteorology and how it can be used to help build a more sustainable future. Some are made from aluminum so that they would withstand the corrosive salt in the sea air, others use wind and solar technology to generate energy to power the irrigation systems of the highest levels platform’s garden.
According to the festival’s chief creative officer, Martin Green, “The transformation of a decommissioned platform into one of the UK’s most ambitious public art installations […] offers a blueprint for the reuse of industrial structures”.