Kielder’s new ‘airborne rock’ art installation set to make a splash

THIS “airborne rock” has taken off as Kielder’s latest combined artwork and wildlife feature.

Called Plashetts Rising, the boulder-like creation appears to rise from Kielder Water in Northumberland.

Part of the Heritage Lottery funded “Living Wild at Kielder” project, its installation was delayed from last November due to the water level being too high.

But as the water levels dropped during the dry summer, it allowed the structure support to be positioned on the reservoir bed.

Now all that remains is for autumn rain and the water to rise, so that Plashetts Rising, which is sculpted from fibre glass, can be seen to its full, striking effect.

Peter Sharpe, art and architecture curator for Kielder Water & Forest Park Development Trust, said: ”The rock of Plashetts Rising sits on a series of thin structural supports bonded into an underwater foundation that, when viewed from the water’s edge and beyond, will disappear into the surrounding landscape leaving behind a gravity-defying mass.”

Plashetts Rising has been designed by Pascal Bronner and Thomas Hillier, of FleaFolly Architects, so that it also works as a perch and resting place for ospreys and other birds.

Additional support also came from the Bartlett School of Architecture’s Project Fund in London and Arts Council England.

Designers Pascal Bronner and Thomas Hillier said: “We wanted to create something that felt like it was quarried and carved physically from Kielder’s past, ripped from the reservoir and hung in space for all to see.”

* For more information on Kielder Art & Architecture go to http://www.kielderartandarchitecture.com.