Taking Off

This is "Flock", which was installed alongside the Mere in Diss earlier this year. We hadn't seen it before, but there've been mutterings on social media & in the local press of the "waste of money", "ruins the view of the beautiful Mere", "asking for vandalism", "ideal for pigeons to perch" type. It's part of the Norfolk Way Art Trail, which looks as if it has 4 or so artworks installed in out-of-the-way parts of Norfolk at the moment, funded by a grant from the EU. The structure, composed of coloured and highly polished metal tubes, was designed & installed by toyStudio. The design was inspired by thoughts of a flock of birds taking off, possibly from the Mere itself.

It was mid/late afternoon when we saw it, & I have to admit it looked a bit flat and tacky when we approached from the other side. It was different from where I stood to photograph it with the Mere in the background as by then the low sunlight and the lights set in the ground underneath were being reflected by the metal. It's obviously something which will subtly alter as the light and the viewing angle changes.

The fountain in the background is a device to help aerate the surprisingly deep and fairly stagnant Mere - I thought it added something to the overall composition and luckily took the shot just after we'd arrived as it had been switched off by the time we walked back to the carpark!