The Angel of the South (or the Ebbsfleet Landmark) is a planned £2 million colossal sculpture, of a white horse, at Ebbsfleet, Kent, England.

[edit] Background

Prior to any design being announced, the sculpture was planned as a counterpart to Antony Gormley's Angel of the North at Gateshead (with a stipulation that it be at least twice as wide and high, and visible from 20 miles away), and to mark one of six main "gateways" to London, hence the informal name Angel of the South being adopted early on for the formally named Ebbsfleet Landmark Project Ltd.

[edit] Organisation

The necessary construction works are being organised by Futurecity Arts, whilst the project itself is run as part of the Thames Gateway development scheme by a consortium including Eurostar, London and Continental Railways and Land Securities. Land Securities has committed more than £1 million of its funding, and Futurecity Arts are seeking £1 million to match that. Allan Willett, Lord Lieutenant of Kent, chairs the Ebbsfleet Landmark panel.

[edit] History

[edit] Design shortlisting

Gormley and other artists were invited to admit designs on 22 May 2007, by which time the site (a hill outside the new Eurostar station at Ebbsfleet International, near Land Securities' Springhead Park residential development) had been announced. A shortlist of 5 was chosen on 28 January 2008 (consisting of Mark Wallinger, Rachel Whiteread, Richard Deacon, Christopher le Brun, and Daniel Buren), with press coverage noting the omission of Gormley. The artists were given 3 months from then to produce their proposals, which were displayed to the public from May 2008 at Bluewater Shopping Centre. Le Brun produced a winged disc; Buren a tower of 5 cubes; Deacon a stack of 26 different steel polyhedra; Wallinger a realistic sculpture of a horse, in honour of Horsa; and Whiteread a plaster cast of a house's interior atop an artificially-created mountain. In September 2008 the shortlist was reduced to three designs: Deacon's, Buren's and Wallinger's. The competition triggered public interest, and was the subject of a satirical series of cartoons in Steve Bell's If... series between 4 and 8 February 2008, and in May 2008. In Ebbsfleet, however, it has been the subject of apathy or even hostility^[1].

[edit] White Horse figure selected

On 10 February 2009 the BBC announced that the winner was Wallinger's realistic sculpture of a horse.^[2] The sculpture's completion is planned to occur before domestic high-speed services to Kent begin on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 2009, in good time for the 2012 Olympics.^[3]

The statue is modeled on one of Wallinger's own racehorses "Riviera Red"; which coincidentally won the 4.20 race at Lingfield on 10th Feb 2009, the same day that the artist's sculpture won the competition.^[4] Riviera Red is trained by L Montague Hall.

[edit] White horse of Kent

The white horse has long been an ancient symbol of Kent^[5], and white horse hill figures are a common feature of England as a whole^[6]. The Angel of the South has been referred to as both the White Horse of Ebbsfleet and the White Horse of Kent^[6], however the White horse of Kent that is commonly used as a symbol of Kent is more correctly depicted as a prancing^[5] (or rampant in heraldry) white horse, rearing up on its hind legs, which can also be referred to as Invicta^[5], which is the motto of Kent. A proposal for the Ebbsfleet monument to resemble Invicta, the prancing White horse of Kent, was submitted by the Kent County Council in response to Wallinger's entry, but was rejected by judges^[5]

[edit] See also

• Folkestone White Horse

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• ebbsfleetlandmark.com - official website
• Dunne, John (26 February 2007). "Vision of "Angel of the South"". thelondonpaper. http://www.thelondonpaper.com/cs/Satellite/london/news/article/1157145577400?packedargs=aid%3D1157145577400%26suffix%3DArticleController. Retrieved 2008-01-28. 
• "Ebbsfleet to have an 'Angel of the South' which will be seen from 20 miles away". Kent News. 21 May 2007. http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/Ebbsfleet-to-have-an-_Angel-of-the-South_-which-will-be-seen-from-20-miles-away-newsinkent3865.aspx. Retrieved 2008-01-28. 
• Cooke, Rachel (27 January 2008). "Why the nation needs an Angel of the South". The Observer. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/visualart/story/0,,2247502,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-28. 
• Kennedy, Maev (29 January 2008). "South-east to get £2m rival to Angel of the North". The Guardian. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2248675,00.html. Retrieved 2008-02-07. 
• "In praise of ... the Angel of the North". The Guardian. 30 January 2008. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/visualart/story/0,,2249061,00.html. Retrieved 2008-02-07. 
• "Five of the best compete for mighty station honour". Dartford Times. 30 January 2008. http://www.dartfordtimes.com/content/kent/dartfordtimes/news/story.aspx?brand=DFTTOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsdftt&itemid=WeED30%20Jan%202008%2016%3A58%3A15%3A030. Retrieved 2008-02-07. 

Coordinates: 51°25′48″N 0°19′37″E / 51.430°N 0.327°E / 51.430; 0.327