Madeira Terrace, Brighton, Winter Light Commission
Otherworlds…. The Electric Garden
Year
2022-2023
Client
Brighton & Hove City Council
Services
Commission Management
Location
Madeira Terrace (just to the west of Concorde 2), Madeira Drive
Brighton & Hove
Winter Light Commission for Madeira Terrace
For Brighton & Hove City Council a new temporary artwork has been commissioned to highlight the project that is about to start on the site, and to begin to bring this magical place to life.
This first commission provides an opportunity to respect the ecology and heritage of the Terrace, but to inject some playfulness and delight to an element of the fabric of the city that has been hidden for so long.
Brighton & Hove City Council’s ambition is to see the Terrace used as a year-round place for: local people; sustainable tourism; leisure; recreation and culture. For more information on the conservation project and public art see here.
“My initial response was to draw inspiration from the plant eco-system that is thriving under the arches, since their enclosure. ”
Following an invited competition, Andy Doig has developed a neon artwork inspired by the thriving ecosystem of plants that grow beneath the arches of Madeira Terrace.
Over 100 species of plants have been recorded here and the green wall you see is the longest and oldest in Europe. As part of the restoration works it will be pruned and tamed to ensure its health for years to come.
Andy’s garden of light is made entirely from recycled glass tubing. Taking sculptural forms from the existing plant growth as a starting point, he has reformatted them to pay a glowing tribute to the extraordinary resilience of the Victorian green wall. The artist says ‘What is striking is that there is a quiet order; no one species carpeting another or bullying out more delicate species. The result is almost curatorial, as if nature is laying on a little display of what it is capable of, far from the chaos that might be expected.’
Created entirely by hand, locally at the artist’s studio on Madeira Drive, The Electric Garden is a low energy installation devised to bring intrigue to the seafront over the winter months.
Located just to the west of Concorde 2, the sculptures were viewed through the fence on Madeira Drive and from the steps down from Marine Parade. They were lit from 4.00pm to 10.00pm daily from 21 December 2022 to 26 April 2023.
The artwork has been carefully dismantled and stored for re-use later in the year.
“Otherworlds… will invite artists to consider and interrogate this site... to reimagine what the Eastern Seafront is and might be.”
Through a series of temporary and permanent commissions Otherworlds…. public art programme considers the unique and inspired site and structure of Madeira Terrace, its interconnectivity to the landscape and the enduring perseverance of its historic green wall, which lays claim to being the oldest and longest green wall in the country and is imagined here as a witness to our changing world and environment.
This commission would not have been possible without the assistance Concorde 2.
About Andy Doig
Andy Doig set up his neon design studio on the seafront of Brighton in 1995 after mastering the art of glass bending at the British School of Neon in 1992 (now known as the Neon School).
Over the last three decades he has created beguiling and thought-provoking neon artworks for a diverse range of sites including galleries, abandoned warehouses, festivals, hotels, as well as the more traditional domain of shop windows, to dramatic effect. andydoig.com