{"id":468,"date":"2019-10-25T09:49:24","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T09:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sarahlowndes.net\/?p=468"},"modified":"2019-10-25T09:49:53","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T09:49:53","slug":"panoramic-sea-happening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sarahlowndes.net\/?p=468","title":{"rendered":"Panoramic Sea Happening (2017)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Curated by Sarah Lowndes for Kunsthalle Cromer, East Beach Cromer, 2017<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Lowndes established\u00a0Kunsthalle Cromer in 2017, to enhance the cultural provision available within the seaside town of Cromer and the wider area of Norfolk through the promotion of visual art, music, literature, cinema, performance and interdisciplinary art forms. Kunsthalle Cromer works together with relevant local community organisations, developing positive, supportive and sustainable relationships and offering accessible, free and exciting cultural activity which brings people from diverse backgrounds together to enjoy meaningful shared experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first public art event initiated by Lowndes under the auspices of Kunsthalle Cromer was the\u00a0Panoramic Sea Happening<\/em>\u00a0on East Beach, Cromer in June 2017.\u00a0\u00a0This event was a re-enactment of part of the 1967 happening,\u00a0The Sea Concert (The Panoramic Sea Happening)<\/em>\u00a0by Tadeusz Kantor, first staged at Osieki on the Polish coast, with conceptual artist Edward Krasi\u0144ski, dressed in a black tailcoat, conducting the waves from a stepladder while being watched by spectators in striped deck chairs. In Lowndes\u2019s re-enactment, which took place 50 years after the original happening, the conductor was played by the proprietor of Norwich’s The Book Hive and Propolis publisher, Henry Layte.\u00a0\u00a0In re-staging Kantor\u2019s seminal work in this new context, Lowndes hoped to reach new audiences, who would directly experience the wit and magic of part of Kantor\u2019s original \u201cscore\u201d, but this time imbued with local resonances and the multivalent possibilities of the live situation.\u00a0\u00a0While Kantor\u2019s original work had several movements, which included motorbikes scrambling on the sand, the artist himself shouting instructions through a megaphone and the audience being pelted with fish, Lowndes\u2019s re-enactment deliberated focussed on the best-known aspect of the work – the first movement, captured in Eustachy Kossakowski\u2019s magical photograph of Krasi\u0144ski conducting the symphony of the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Henry Layte, as The Conductor, Panoramic Sea Happening<\/em>, Kunsthalle Cromer, East Beach Cromer (2017)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kantor\u2019s work is an invitation to be fully present in the natural world and to see, feel and hear the beach, where, as he put it, proximity to the sea, works to \u201cimpose motion, rhythm and sound values not surpassing the abilities of human perception.”\u00a0\u00a0The sizeable audience who assembled in the bright June sunlight on Cromer beach to watch the re-enactment, consisted of those involved in the art world and academia in the South East of England (including attendees from Outpost Gallery, originalprojects, University of East Anglia, Norwich University of the Arts, the Courtauld Institute and Coventry University), but also many locals who had attended out of curiosity after reading about the event in the\u00a0Eastern Daily Press<\/em>, or simply stumbled upon the happening and been drawn in, whether watching quietly or being inspired to get in the sea themselves.\u00a0\u00a0Gary Clark lives locally and brought his family along to watch the event. He said: \u201cIt\u2019s very fitting to the atmosphere here on the beach. We all think it\u2019s marvellous.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Another spectator who came across the event by chance, tourist Anna Hill, said: \u201cWhat a unique thing to do. It\u2019s not a sight I was expecting to see, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0There were a wide range of ages present, including elderly people and many children, neither of whom had been in evidence in photographs of Kantor\u2019s original piece, which had been performed during a three-week-long meeting of artists and art theorists.\u00a0\u00a0Lowndes provided free drinks and a barbeque for the audience, and after the performance, the communal picnicking on the beach continued for some time.\u00a0\u00a0Some local residents afterwards wrote describing their experience (their first of attending a Happening): \u201cSo we wandered along the beach feeling a little self-conscious to be honest. \u00a0But soon we were joined by a lot more people. \u00a0Some deck chairs were unfolded and lined up, flapping in the wind and a podium was dragged into the sea. \u00a0As the tide lapped up against the podium our conductor arrived, looking resplendent in black tail coat, carrying a baton. \u00a0Everyone watched as he climbed the steps and began conducting the sea! \u00a0Children splashed about in the waves and people sat having a drink in the deck chairs watching. \u00a0It was all very exciting and\u2026. well, different!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Henry Layte, as The Conductor, Panoramic Sea Happening<\/em>, Kunsthalle Cromer, East Beach Cromer (2017)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n