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Wallinger’s white horse wins Ebbsfleet Landmark race
o Planning process to start as soon as possible
o Technical and financial development studies to continue
[10:00am, 10 February 2008:
Mark’s proposal is for a 50 metre high white horse, standing on all four hooves at 33 times life-size. Sited to stand prominently at
The next stage in the development of the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project is to start the planning process with Gravesham Borough Council as the local planning authority. This is expected to last at least 12 months. In terms of cost, while estimates cannot be finalised in advance of planning and further technical studies, the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project Board recognises that in the current economic environment, fundraising is difficult, a situation that may ease while the planning process runs its course..
Mark Wallinger said: “This is a tremendously exciting project. There was some very tough competition and I am honoured that the Horse has won through. I and the team very much look forward to working with Gravesham Borough Council as the planning process progresses.”
The Board of the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project endorsed the decision of the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project Selection Panel after having considered comments from the public engagement programme. This programme included a free, 12 week exhibition at the Bluewater Shopping Centre. It is estimated that over 6 million people had the opportunity to see the exhibition and the Ebbsfleet Landmark Selection Panel and Board had the benefit of over 50,000 comments from the public.
Victoria Pomery, director of the Turner Contemporary in
To date, the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project has been funded by the founding patrons: Eurostar; Land Securities; and London & Continental Railways, collectively committing in excess of £1m.
Speaking on behalf of the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project founding patrons, Stephen Jordan, chair of the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project Board said: “In spite of the current recession, this project remains important for the 25 year task of building sustainable communities in the
Mark Wallinger had been shortlisted along with Daniel Buren and Richard Deacon. The original longlist also included Rachel Whiteread and Christopher Le Brun.
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For images or further information contact: Kate Fisher, London Communications Agency, 0207 612 8480, kf@londoncommunications.co.uk
Notes to editors
About the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project
www.ebbsfleetlandmark.com
The Ebbsfleet Landmark is a multi-million project, to create a major public artwork for
Ebbsfleet International station, located on High Speed 1 and served by Eurostar, is currently the main focus for the area. Proposals for the development of the area by Land Securities are well advanced with the first phase of development now under construction on site. The land on which it is being built, a vast brown field site, has historic associations and is very well placed between river, rail and motorway, but the full development will take many years to deliver. It is the role of the artwork to introduce an identity for
The patrons of the Ebbsfleet Landmark are hoping, through commissioning a world-class work of public art, to establish a potent expression of the place in advance of its existing physically.
About Mark Wallinger
British artist Mark Wallinger was born in Chigwell,
He exhibited throughout the 1980s and in 1993 was included in the Young British Artists II exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. He was also one of the artists featured in the iconic Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1997. In 1998 he was awarded the Henry Moore Fellowship at the
Mark Wallinger works in many different media, including performance, video and photography, as well as painting and sculpture. From his early paintings onwards, his art has often been concerned with social issues, and sometimes with a preoccupation with death, belief and myth. His paintings of race horses, Race Class Sex, were followed by the work for which he was first nominated for the Turner Prize in 1995: an actual racehorse which he bought and named A Real Work of Art. In Angel (1997), a video installation, he appears as a blind man at the bottom of an escalator, reciting the opening verses of
In 2007, the Turner Prize was awarded to him for the work for which he has become best known: the painstaking recreation in the Duveen Galleries at Tate
o Steve McGuckin, Head of
The arts and cultural agency Futurecity has been appointed to curate and manage the commission, from conception to delivery.
Claire Owen is the curator and project manager of the Ebbsfleet Landmark. She has been a senior Public Art Project Director at Futurecity for over three years and has extensive experience of commissioning major public artworks in a diverse range of situations.
Futurecity was founded in 2000 by Director Mark Davy. It has devised and implemented cultural strategies for regeneration projects throughout
Futurecity are also working with Land Securities on the cultural strategy for
The project has been commissioned by three patrons: Eurostar, Land Securities and London & Continental Railways (LCR). Together, the three companies have formed a new not-for-profit company, Ebbsfleet Landmark Project Ltd. This company administers the project fund. It will also safeguard the ongoing legacy of the artwork once it has been completed and installed.
Ebbsfleet International is the newest station on the Eurostar network of high-speed rail services between
Nearly half of all Eurostar services call at Ebbsfleet International en route between St Pancras International and continental
Eurostar carries more than nine million travellers a year and is working hard to reduce its environmental impact. Research has shown that a Eurostar journey emits less than one tenth of the carbon dioxide of an equivalent flight. Eurostar aims to reduce CO2 emissions by a further 25% per passenger journey by 2012, and is the world’s first train operator to make all passenger journeys carbon neutral.
Land Securities is the
Land Securities’ multi billion pound development programme is transforming regional city centres including
Half of the Land Securities’ portfolio is in
London & Continental Railways Ltd (LCR) was created in 1996 and selected by the Government to build and operate High Speed 1 and to own and operate the
Through High Speed 1, a major element of the Government’s Private-Public Partnership programme, key infrastructure is provided for the public sector, with private sector management. LCR delivered the project on time and within budget.
In addition to its contribution to the development of
Future Creative
Future Creative is a Kent-based Community Interest Company, has been working with young people from five local secondary schools –
In January, the young people designed and led a presentation and screening of short films, in a cinema at Bluewater, telling the story of their experiences in relation to the Ebbsfleet Landmark. It was attended by Mayors and Councillors from
The young people have not only become the champions of the Ebbsfleet Landmark, but have raised their ambitions to become a future generation of young cultural and civic leaders whose growing skills, aspirations and confidence will enable them to achieve a successful future within the new Ebbsfleet Valley community. With ongoing support and investment, these young people will become the bridge between the two communities, old and new and the key to the long-term success of the regeneration process. Future Creative is hoping to secure funding to continue the project for a further two years, building on the initial investment of the Ebbsfleet patrons, to help engage the broader communities of Gravesham and
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