OR

South Lawns
19th April-6th May 2024

OR – a celebration in gold – is here. Running until 6th May and held to benefit three charities: James’ Place, Restore and the Lowther Church Restoration Fund.

The installation OR – so called because the Lowther crest is based round the colour gold – has been put together by County Durham based artist Steve Messam. It was he who created PaperBridge in Grizedale (a functioning packhorse bridge made from 22,000 sheets of red ‘poppy’ paper) and more recently Hush which filled a lead-mining scar in the North Pennines with over five kilometres of fabric.

OR comprises 520 textile flags dyed golden yellow. Each flag is up to 2.5m long and 1.5m high and flies from a simple aluminium pole at a height of between 3m and 5m. Overall, the display measures around 320m x 45m, creating an installation of a scale rarely seen – over 5 times the size of the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London.

Entry free with admission. To watch a short video with an unusual view of the installation, please click here