Blackpool promenade art

About half of Blackpool’s promenade (about 2KM) has now been regenerated and although it’s dominated by concrete it still provides great views of the beach and the sea and also has a lovely smooth surface which is ideal for cycling.  It also has some amazing art work all long its length.  if you don’t like modern art then you might have a problem with it,  but having watched all of the pieces being built and installed over the years I find that the work grows on you.  We have recently had a variety of new lighting installed which really makes for a lovely summers walk and some new sound affects which can be a bit creepy on a dark night.

The first image is of a person swimming in the sea and has sound affects of kids playing on the beach.  It looks really effective with the sun streaming through it.  The next picture shows a rusting steel monstrosity in most peoples eyes,  although when the light catches it right it casts a shadow of a broken heart.  Finally we have this amazing – huge – glitter ball.  At night 4 projects shine onto it and the resulting light show stretches for 20–30 metres on each side of the ball,  walking past it you seem to be walking in a sea of swirling lights and it is a really great affect, although you feel a bit dizzy by the end of it.

If you want to find out more there is a web site with all the details here, with a bit of background from the site:

The Great Promenade Show originated from the major redevelopment undertaken by the then Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to replace and strengthen the 2km long South Promenade’s seawall flood defences. This £20 million project entailed removing the existing Victorian promenade and replacing it with a new well-designed concrete promenade on two levels. The upper level was to incorporate ’roundels’ every hundred metres, on which it was intended to site specially designed features, including wind shelters and visual displays possibly representative of the history of Blackpool.

A Millennium Lottery bid was made by the Council to this end, though a commitment to start building had to be made before the outcome of the bid was known. The bid was unsuccessful, but the sites for visual features along the new promenade remained, as did the Council’s commitment to occupying them. At this point, responsibility for managing the project shifted from the Council’s Technical Services Department to its Education, Leisure and Cultural Services Division.