See Monster, a decommissioned North Sea offshore platform, has opened as a public art installation at the Tropicana in Weston-super-Mare, UK.
Part of the Unboxed: Creativity in the UK festival, the project “aims to inspire conversations about reuse, renewables, and the great British weather”, according to a news release.
See Monster was led by Leeds-based creative studio Newsubstance. Patrick O’Mahony, the company’s creative director and founder, described it as “an incredibly unique project”.
“We are incredibly excited to be the first people in the world to reuse a structure in this way, with its potential to provide a blueprint for future global reuse projects,” he added.
Decommissioned North Sea offshore platform
“From the roar of the waterfall to the shimmering scales, we invite our audience to ascend the monster, running through clouds and exploring wild gardens until they reach the summit where they can see our monster’s home from a new perspective.”
The installation has four accessible levels, as well as a waterfall, multi-level slide, kinetic wind sculptures, and a wild garden of plants, grasses and trees.
It also features a 6,000-piece kinetic installation that forms the monster’s scales, a seated amphitheatre, broadcast studio, and artist-designed experiments in sustainable energy generation.
Dr Ella Gilbert, climate science advisor to See Monster, said the attraction “reminds us how our industrial history has shaped our climate, and how we can transform our future by repurposing infrastructure like oil and gas platforms”.
“We know about the negative impact of our dependence on fossil fuels. Less often do we hear about the ways in which we can transform society for the better,” she added.
See Monster is 35 metres tall and weighs 450 tonnes. It was transported by sea on a barge as large as a football pitch to the beach at Weston-super-Mare.
“The transformation of a decommissioned platform into one of the UK’s most ambitious public art installations has been an unprecedented undertaking and offers a blueprint for the reuse of industrial structures that everyone involved should be proud of,” said Martin Green, chief creative officer for Unboxed: Creativity in the UK.
Unboxed: Creativity in the UK is taking place across the UK until 5 November.
Images: Unboxed: Creativity in the UK / Ben Birchall, PA Media
