Project Overview

 

The Newquay Monoliths is a public sculpture project by artist & community engagement specialist Robin Sullivan and ALMA Artspace. They are being made collaboratively with local people and they celebrate the unique heritage, landscape, archaeology and community of Newquay. 

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Monoliths are a frequent occurrence across Cornwall (and far beyond), dating back to the Neolithic period. They are some of the oldest monuments in our landscapes, used for millennia as places of contemplation, healing and communal celebration. 

The Newquay Monoliths are being made using casts created in a series of public workshops. These workshops provide a fun and creative enquiry into Newquay’s natural landscape, modern town-scape and multi-layered heritage - dating back to the bronze age civilisations who first made this place their home. The workshops have given participants a chance to map places of social gathering and personal significance, specific to their experience of living here. Over 300 casts have been created, and each one immortalises a small piece of Newquay - creating emotive fragments, which will be laid upon the monoliths.

By combining casts made by the people of Newquay into these new sculptural structures, we create a new conversation around the idea that: ‘Yours + Mine = Ours’.  This concept takes its inspiration from our ancient ancestors, where different communities would combine materials from their own lands to create common spaces and memorials.

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By combining casts made by the people of Newquay into these new sculptural structures, we create a new conversation around the idea that: ‘Yours + Mine = Ours’.  This concept takes its inspiration from our ancient ancestors, where different communities would combine materials from their own lands to create common spaces and memorials.

In making the Monoliths, we have used direct casts, alongside the varied geologies, flora and waste materials found at sites across the town, embedding them into unique sculptural fragments of the landscapes, mirroring this ancient tradition whilst encapsulating another layer of the place itself. Now more than ever, communities need spaces to gather, listen, and learn from one another.

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The goal of this project is to encourage these connections, ensuring the Monoliths are imbued with a collective understanding and appreciation of our shared experiences. 

Like a landscape, town, or person, the Monoliths combine complex layers, anchoring them in and reflecting their origins. The Monoliths will create a walking trail from Newquay’s old town at the Barrowfields, across to Newquay Orchard and out to the newest part of the town at Nansledan.

Find our more: www.alma-artspace.com/monoliths | @almaartspace