Angel of the South shortlist unveiled (From News Shopper)

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Angel of the South shortlist unveiled

10:07am Thursday 8th May 2008

comment Comments (42) Have your say »

By Michael Purton »

DESIGNS for a £2m hilltop landmark at the mini-town being built near Swanscombe have been unveiled.

Five designs by internationally-acclaimed artists have been shortlisted for the Ebbsfleet Landmark - known as the Angel of the South - at the Ebbsfleet Valley development.

Situated in the south-east corner of Ebbsfleet Valley, the landmark will tower over both the development and Ebbsfleet International Station.

It has been commissioned by Lands Securities, along with Eurostar and London & Continental Railways.

A spokesman for the organisations behind the commission said: "It is the role of the artwork to help put Ebbsfleet Valley on the map, and to start a process of placemaking out of which the new community will evolve.

"At 50 metres high the Ebbsfleet Landmark could be one of the most significant works of art ever commissioned in England."

Turner Prize winner Mark Wallinger is one of the shortlisted artists and has proposed a 33 times life-size white horse.

He said: "The horse is the work of centuries of continuous collaboration between man and nature.

"And if the scale makes it uncanny, perhaps this is because it is also something quite plain and simple - a horse in a field."

Two former Turner Prize winners, Richard Deacon and Rachel Whiteread, are among the artists whose designs were also unveiled.

Whiteread is proposing to create a craggy recycled mountain with a life-size interior of a house on the top.

Deacon's sculpture would be a nest of steel latticework.

French artist Daniel Buren has designed a tower of stacked cubes with a single laser beam of light passing through it.

Sculptor Christopher Le Brun has proposed a huge wing and disc - a reference to the Roman god of travellers and commerce Mercury.

An exhibition of the artists' proposals will go on show in a gallery at Bluewater shopping centre for three months from May 27.

A committe chaired by Lord Lieutenant of Kent Allan Willett will choose the winning design, which will be announced this autumn and is expected to be completed by 2010.

Ebbsfleet Valley is a 25 year project being built by developer Lands Securities. It will contain around 10,000 homes along with offices, shops and leisure facilities.

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G, Gravesend says...
9:48pm Wed 7 May 08

To be honest, non of the proposed designs really stand out except maybe the box tower. The 50m horse would just look ridiculas but could be improved to make it mirror the Kent symbol of the jumping horse which would look much better than the proposed design of a standing horse. Overall, only the box tower with the laser really stands out as being the most inspiring and most recognised symbol of the south.

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ME, says...
10:33pm Wed 7 May 08

WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY

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P, Kent says...
8:08am Thu 8 May 08

What is really needed is something that represents Kent, the garden on England, not a horse or a pile of rubbish with a house on top. It should be left down the local people to decide and even some up with ideas. Iin my opinion a windmill would have been a good idea, and would have produced some free energy at the same time!

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carparkattendant, Bexley says...
9:48am Thu 8 May 08

What is wrong with an electricity pylon with some caravans arond the bottom. More representative of the area and cheaper.

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E, Gravesend says...
9:49am Thu 8 May 08

Has anyone asked the locals what they would like? We will have to live with this monstrosity.
Do we really need this at all?
P, Kent has a good idea, a windmill would be better if we have to have a landmark.

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Sid Grimes, The Wine Cellar says...
10:38am Thu 8 May 08

Me lord and master lord piggott reckons they should ave a statue of im to represent kent.

By the way ive taken over his blog so go and have a butchers at it. its called GAWD BLIMEY, I'VE GOT ME OWN BLOG

Grimes

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Ali, Bromley says...
11:21am Thu 8 May 08

Thats just stupid... i mean come on who would wonna see a massive horse. NO one. well atleast u could say you wouldnt forget where you are. whoever thinks this is a great idea needs their heads sorted out. swanscombe dont even have may horses... what is england coming to.

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GGG, Gravesend says...
11:44am Thu 8 May 08

I quite like the white horse! What about a swan upon ebb ing water with a fleet of ships? That would be more in keeping with the name and location.

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Kerry Ann, says...
11:49am Thu 8 May 08

All of the designs are interesting, I particularly like Mark Wallinger's idea. It's not as abstract and weird as previous work he has done. I think all the proposals have potential to bring a lot of tourism to the area too, which is a great thing.

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the blatant beast, London says...
1:49pm Thu 8 May 08

A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a...oh

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Janet, Dartford says...
2:04pm Thu 8 May 08

How about a very large apple tree with red apples that illuminate when it is dark. Just to remind us how Kent use to look.

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Sunny, London says...
2:22pm Thu 8 May 08

Sid

What are you doing on this site?? Our Lord will have a fit when he finds out"!

I think the horse looks like a monstrosity. Yes, what a waste of money and yes, ask the locals what they would like (if this is really necessary) as they will be the ones putting up with it.

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Pink Kitten, London says...
2:30pm Thu 8 May 08

These are Turner Prize winning creative minds and is that the best they can come up with?
A giant horse I ask you! These guys should create themselves as a giant P*nis.

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Sunny, London says...
3:09pm Thu 8 May 08

Pink Kitten is missing Our Lord, I think!

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unohoo, says...
4:04pm Thu 8 May 08

...and Sunny is missing a brain!

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Sunny, London says...
4:32pm Thu 8 May 08

unohoo wrote:
...and Sunny is missing a brain!

Ouch! Is that the best you could come up with feeble person with a really stupid name?

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unohoo, says...
4:37pm Thu 8 May 08

Ouch?

Did it hurt when they extracted it?

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plantlady, Bexleyheath says...
5:59pm Thu 8 May 08

Thought this was supposed to be 'Angel Of The South'... Unless you make the horse into Pegasus, I see no wings!

Sheesh, waste of money, although it will give the graffitto artists another surface.

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Local Bloke, Gravesend says...
6:15pm Thu 8 May 08

On a personal thought, I think they have made an utter mess of the countryside in Gravesend already and some stupid monstrosity is just the icing on the cake.

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AP, At work says...
10:30am Fri 9 May 08

Pink Kitten wrote:
These are Turner Prize winning creative minds and is that the best they can come up with? A giant horse I ask you! These guys should create themselves as a giant P*nis.

If they created a giant p*nis the only place worthy would be your forehead my dear.

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Trefy, mid Wales says...
4:13pm Fri 9 May 08

How about a giant hop house?

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Lucy, about says...
4:18pm Fri 9 May 08

Why not go the whole hog Trefy from mid-Wales and opt for a Giant Grasshopper to remind us of a species that once existed in the verges and corn-rows of Kent before they became virtually extinct due to insecticides and gm crops?

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Mark, Dartford says...
3:54am Sun 11 May 08

How about a giant Mug, to represent what we must be to put up with this and all the other plans, that are destroying our areas.

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anita, dartford says...
12:37pm Mon 12 May 08

How about a giant Union Jack to remind everybody that they are living in England.

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anita, dartford says...
12:39pm Mon 12 May 08

What about a giant Union Jack to remind everyone we are English and in England and proud of it.

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Lucy, Spaced out says...
9:17pm Mon 12 May 08

anita wrote:
What about a giant Union Jack to remind everyone we are English and in England and proud of it.

Blimey thats a good idea anita, I totally forgot who I was and where I am...England, oh yeah! LOL

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driver, petts wood says...
11:00am Tue 13 May 08

Lucy wrote:

anita wrote: What about a giant Union Jack to remind everyone we are English and in England and proud of it.
Blimey thats a good idea anita, I totally forgot who I was and where I am...England, oh yeah! LOL

I would love to see that, perhaps in some indiginous plants and with an oast house in the background...

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anita, dartford says...
12:31pm Tue 13 May 08

Blimey, what's the chances of a union jack! The Americans are proud of their flag, everywhere you look there is an American flag - offices, shops, outside people's homes. Can you imagine us wanting to do that here! we'd be arrested!. For some strange reason our local Councils don't like us putting flags up to show OUR allegiance to our country.

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anita, dartford says...
12:31pm Tue 13 May 08

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anita, dartford says...
12:32pm Tue 13 May 08

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P diddy, Pimp Pad says...
12:43pm Tue 13 May 08

P-diddy in the house, get on the good foot, Word up. This list is hideously white, hows about a 40ft statue of a rasta with a set of bongos under his arm?
Peace & love to all.

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anita, dartford says...
1:40pm Tue 13 May 08

What's the chances of that happening.

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smiffy, sidcup says...
4:13pm Tue 13 May 08

anita wrote:
What's the chances of that happening.

Sadly, more chance than our National flag being put on show !

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anita, dartford says...
4:34pm Tue 13 May 08

Anyone would think this Government was anti British!

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emma pearson, northfleet says...
10:16am Wed 14 May 08

What rubbish! These are supposed to be landmarks? a giant white horse fenced in by giant electric fences.........oh no, they're pylons! a great feathered wing shrouded by a big saucer to cast a huge shadow over the already unattractive landscape. A GOLD mangled up pylon.........a 'recycled mountain....which looks like a block of flats, and anyway aren't we having a new recycling centre being build just by pepper hill??? and the building blocks with a laser beam......wow! (hope its energy conserving) i'm speechless. Whats it all about, the whole area looks awful and way too busy with....yes the dreaded pylons. just a waste of £2m if you ask me!

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anita, dartford says...
2:02pm Thu 15 May 08

A statue of Tony Blair to remind everyone what a **** job he made of running this country, and doing nothing about the rising crime rate,feral kids wandering around the streets beating each other up, NHS going down the plan etc. etc.

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Tania, Gravesend says...
12:22am Fri 16 May 08

The idea of the large white horse is deadful, who on earth wants to see that. The box tower with the laser seems the best idea but like alot of people have said what a waste of money. There are far better and worth while causes that could do with that money instaed. Concerned local x

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Mike Watson, Southampton says...
5:19pm Fri 16 May 08

A Spitfire standing on it's tail would symbolise everything relevant to the area and the nation, and Mitchell's design is already pure art!

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Mel, Greenhithe says...
8:48pm Fri 16 May 08

Well im disgusted by them all and have lived in this area all my life. Why should we get in designers from all over the place when i know for a fact there a perfectly good designer that lives in the area of swanscombe and has been born and bred in the area to. Surely local ppl should of had the oppertunity to put there ideas forward and not just any old tom dick or harry

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Suzi, Gravesend says...
2:01pm Sun 18 May 08

Reminds me of the Emporer and his new clothes, a bit. The big white horse idea just looks like someone took a photo of a white horse. It has to be a lighthouse and a garden. Every one thinks of Kent as the garden of England. Then you could have your caravan, the spitfire funny shaped carrot, swan, pylon oh and that windmill. I should think with all of you to help £2m should cover it.

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Leslie Roberts, Gravesend says...
7:24pm Thu 22 May 08

I saw this design by a local designer - it is soo much better than those we have seen: www.angelofthesouth.
co.uk

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Hengest Thorsson, Kent says...
12:59pm Fri 23 May 08

The white horse is a most fitting emblem for Kent being the symbol of Hengest (stallion) and Horsa (horse), the legendary leaders of the Angles/Saxons/Danes who are said to have landed in Ebbesfleet. The white horse emblem adopted by Kent was first used in 1605 in an engraving depicting the landing of Hengest and Horsa.

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