A series of glowing encampments that appear simultaneously at eight coastal locations ringing the UK through four nights.
Peace Camp is director Deborah Warner’s commission for the London 2012 Festival,
in collaboration with actor Fiona Shaw. Peace Camp is a series of glowing
encampments that will appear simultaneously at eight of our most beautiful and remote
coastal locations ringing the UK through four nights, from 19-22 July 2012. Visitors to
the sites will explore encampments of tents softly illuminated from within, and hear a
soundscape created by composer Mel Mercier drawing on the great love poetry of our
islands and the sounds of the natural environment.
Fiona Shaw is inviting people from all over the UK to take part and create an audible
portrait of the nation in its Olympic and Paralympic year. Everyone can nominate a
favourite love poem to be uploaded, or record lines of love poetry on the Peace Camp
website: www.peacecamp2012.com.
The contributions made from homes, schools and workplaces will build a snapshot of
the nation’s loves, reflecting the languages, accents and dialects of every corner of the
UK, as well as our rich poetic tradition. There is the chance for the recording to be
included in the final artwork, and the entire website will be archived for posterity by the
British Library.
Across the country the artworks will be set against some of the most breathtaking
scenery of the UK coastline, including five National Trust sites: Cemaes Bay in
Anglesey, Wales; White Park Bay on the North Antrim Coast, and Mussenden
Temple and Downhill Beach, Borough of Coleraine, Northern Ireland; Cliff Beach at
Valtos on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, and Fort Fiddes Cullykhan Bay in
Aberdeenshire, Scotland; Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland; Cuckmere
Haven near Seven Sisters in Sussex; and Godrevy Head, Cornwall.
Deborah Warner’s commission is inspired by the United Nations Olympic Truce, which
calls on countries worldwide to lay down their arms for the duration of the Olympic
Games. As dusk begins to fall, the artworks will flicker to life, encircling the UK in a
symbolic call to peace.
Peace Camp is a co-commission by the London 2012 Festival and City of Culture
2013. It is produced and delivered by creative company Artichoke, whose previous
projects have included Lumiere Durham, Antony Gormley’s commission for the Fourth
Plinth, and The Sultan’s Elephant. Partners include the National Trust, Arts Council
England, Arts Council Wales, and Creative Scotland.
A schools project will run alongside Peace Camp to engage young people in this
nationwide discussion about the poetic language of love. InTents will work with schools
around the UK coast and in London, creating cross-curricular artist residencies in each
school by some of the country’s most exciting poets, spoken word and visual artists.
Students at each school will work with these artists to make their own tent installation,
filled with specially-written poems. The finished tents will go on public exhibition and
host live poetry events in the areas local to the secondary schools, before travelling to
London’s Southbank during October 2012 where all the tents will be displayed together
as part of National Poetry Day celebrations.
Deborah Warner said:
“Above all, Peace Camp is a celebration of our astonishing coastline and great poetic
tradition. With the idea of quiet contemplation and pilgrimage at its core, the project
was inspired by Olympic truce, the ongoing call by the United Nations for all warring
nations to lay down their arms for the duration of the Games.”
Fiona Shaw said: “Over these next months, I want to celebrate the unsung poetry of
everyday. I hope people across our islands will send me their poems, and recordings,
and write poems to those they love, so that we can make a virtual Peace Camp online.
These islands have a strong tradition of poetry, of capturing human experiences with
words. In moments of true love or painful parting, all that’s unimportant falls away and
language is laid bare. We quote poets in times of need, borrowing their fragments of
feelings; all of us are poets when we are in love.”
Ruth Mackenzie, Director, London 2012 Festival, said: “When the eyes of the world
are on us this summer this commission for the London 2012 Festival will bring
international attention to eight of our most beautiful and remote coastal locations
around the UK. I’d like to join Deborah Warner and Fiona Shaw in calling for people
across the UK to submit their recordings of love poems to be part of this London 2012
piece of art.”
Peace Camp Locations
Peace Camp is a quiet and contemplative artwork. A limited number of visitors will be
allowed at any one time, and booking is therefore recommended.
www.peacecamp2012.com
Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, Wales
Cradled in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Cemaes sits at the heart of the
country’s Welsh-speaking region, overlooked by the oldest church in Wales,
Llanbadrig, or the Church of St Patrick. Gravestones in the churchyard in both Welsh
and English bear witness to this community’s stormy relationship with the sea below.
White Park Bay, North Antrim Coast, Northern Ireland
White Park Bay is a spectacular beach forming a white arc curving between two
headlands on the North Antrim Coast. At the eastern end of the sweeping bay lie the
many rocky volcanic islands that surround Ballintoy Harbour, while the western end
leads to the tiny fishing village of Port Braddon, home to St Gobbans, allegedly the
smallest church in Ireland, and used as a cowshed until the 1950s. These days cows
graze on the wild flowers that grow on the beach.
Mussenden Temple and Downhill Beach, Borough of Coleraine, Northern Ireland
Mussenden Temple is located in the beautiful surroundings of Downhill Beach near
Castlerock in the Borough of Coleraine, County Derry-Londonderry. Built in 1785 by
the extraordinary Frederick Augustus Hervey, Bishop of Londonderry and Earl of
Bristol, the temple is set on a 120ft cliff top. The temple was built as a summer library
and its design is inspired by the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, near Rome.
Fort Fiddes, Cullykhan Bay, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
The rocky promontory of Castle Point reaches out into the Moray Firth with its crystal
clear sea and vast red sandstone cliffs. It is a site of huge archaeological importance:
the ruins of this 18th century fort the latest evidence of habitations that stretch back to
700BC. From the end of the Fort, views across the coast reveal the tiny fishing village
of Pennan, made famous through the 1980’s film Local Hero, while the Moray Firth is
home to hundreds of thousands of seabirds including puffins, fulmars, shags,
kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills, and for the North Sea’s only known resident
population of bottlenose dolphins.
Cliff Beach, Valtos, Isle of Lewis, Scotland
The white shell sand of the beach at Valtos forms a perfect teardrop shelter from the
incoming might of the Atlantic Ocean. Set in bleak terrain that leads from Stornoway
past the enigmatic 5000-year old Calanais/Callanish standing stones, the historic
presence of ancient peoples is as pervasive here as in the rest of island of Lewis and
its native Gaelic language. With its population of 35 inhabitants, the village of Valtos is
the largest in the parish of Uig, where the 12th century Lewis Chessmen were found
following a storm in 1831.
Dunstanburgh Castle, Craster, Northumberland, England
Built in 1313 by the Earl of Lancaster as a symbol of his rebellion against the King,
Dunstanburgh Castle was once one of the grandest fortifications in all England. Today
it the UK’s largest ruin, defended on two sides by a sheer cliff and the crashing sea.
The artist J.W.Turner was so inspired by his only visit to the castle that he returned to it
again and again in his paintings.
Cuckmere Haven, near Seven Sisters, Sussex, England
For many, this stunning landscape epitomises the very essence of the English coast.
The river Cuckmere winds its way through wide flood plains, twisting and turning before
emerging onto the pebble beach at Seaford Head. With its clutch of iconic coastguard
cottages perched high above the sea, the site provides far-reaching views along one of
England’s most famous white chalk cliffs. Its peaceful picture-postcard perfection
conceals a murkier history of smugglers and conflict, while in a nearby field a poignant
WWII memorial quietly remembers the troop of Canadian soldiers who were annihilated
by German bombers making their way to London using the huge river estuary as a
navigational aid.
Godrevy, North Cornwall, England
Godrevy Head sits at the north end of St Ives bay with its vast and Atlantic rollers
pounding into the white sand beach. Only three miles further out to sea, Godrevy Island
takes the full force of the gales sweeping in from the Atlantic. The beach is one of the
most popular in Cornwall attracting surfers and walkers as well as literary pilgrims.
Although Virginia Woolf’s 1927 novel To the Lighthouse was set in the Outer Hebrides,
Godrevy lighthouse is believed to have provided the inspiration for the book during
Woolf’s many family holidays in Cornwall. Just as the Ramsay family never make their
picnic on the island, Godrevy provides an unattainable destination for visitors to the
Peace Camp installation.
The
use
of
all
locations
is
subject
to
the
permission
of
landowners,
tenants
and
other
interested
parties.
Artichoke
reserves
the
right
to
make
changes
if
necessary,
For further information, interviews and images, please contact Anna Vinegrad:
press@annavinegrad.com 0207 609 8905 or 0781 3808 487
Different venues
19 - 22 July, 2012