One of the aims of Turneround Margate has always been to document the progress of arts regeneration in the town, and the redevelopment of the Harbour Arm must be one of the most obvious improvements for a while.

Already open on the arm is Vanilla Sky (a cafe selling ice cream and waffles) and the fantastic IOTA Gallery. Joining them over the summer months will be an impressive seafood resteraunt at the lighthouse end of the arm, along with another cafe, a florists and a ‘girls gift shop’.

Since we visited late last month, the Harbour Arm held it’s reopening event, but in effect, I understand that the arm will be fully complete over summer. Here’s a selection of photos we took when we dropped in to the IOTA Gallery.

Andrew Baldwin’s Walking Fish sculpture. (Andrew also created some incredible work for The Margate Exodus)

Artist’s Impression of the completed Margate Harbour Arm

The Harbour Arm is hosting a series of summer events every weekend (except the 21/22 June), with everything ranging from a High Tide Concert on the 12th July and a Kite Festival on the 21/22nd September. For more information, visit The Harbour Arm website.

Remember Mark McGowan? Yes, he’s the artist who, amongst other things, has rolled a peanut from Goldsmiths College to 10 Downing Street using only his nose, crawled on all fours around Manhattan wearing a George Bush mask and a “Kick my Ass” sign on his back and left a tap running in the backroom kitchen of a London gallery to protest Thames Water’s leakage problems.

Well now, supported by Margate Rocks, he plans to be buried up to his neck in sand on Margate beach for 48 hours, in a performance/protest to help save the Great British Holiday.

The traditional British seaside holiday is in decline, everyone is flying abroad, this year 30 million people will go on holidays abroad. This is due to cheap flights, sunnier climes and bargain bucket destinations. I am starting a campaign, which will include an art performance where i will be buried in the sand for 48 hours with a notted hankerchief on my head some Margate rock, holiday momento’s and fed fish and chips everyday, this is to encourage people to this year, when the time comes, dont just book a holiday abroad, come to Margate.

Mark will start on Saturday 3rd May at 12 noon and end at 12 noon on Bank holiday Monday 5th of May 2008.

Find out more about Mark McGowan on his website, and keep up to date with all the upcoming Margate Rocks events.

A new exhibition, “Love Letters for Margate”, opens today at the Sandy-Wiches cafe in Cliftonville, which intends to express people’s love for Margate. Show your support for local art, and if you see any of the work, let us know what you think.

It’s not the first time that an artist has proclaimed their love for Margate - in 2003, Tracy Emin was commissioned by Turner Contemporary to create a neon sign for Droit House.

Alas, Emin’s sign, blazing in pink neon the words “I never stopped loving you”, was denied planning permission by TDC, who felt it was inappropriate on a Grade 2 listed building in the old town. Early plans were made to find it a new home in the town, but as to my knowledge, the plan didn’t progress any further. Does anyone know what happened?

Good news… Margate Rocks is back! The 6th Margate Rocks Festival of Contemporary Visual Art will take place between 2-11 May 2008. Situated in and around Margate, this year’s festival explores the relationship between ‘Art & Ecology’.

Showcasing cutting edge work by emerging and established artists, the festival will highlight areas of social, environmental and cultural fact and fiction. The programme aims to create a multidisciplinary dialogue that audiences of all ages can access through a variety of exciting commissions, exhibitions, events, talks, films and workshops.

Participants include Heather & Ivan Morison, Franny Armstrong, Billy Childish, Mark McGowan, Michaela Crimmin, Andrew Kötting and Dr Mark Miodownik. Work will be sited in an assortment of exhibition spaces – from historical to disused, conventional to alternative.

The festival organisers are inviting emerging and established artists, artist groups and curators to submit proposals for exhibition during the festival. You can find out more about Margate Rocks, or join their mailing list by visiting www.margaterocks.com

In the coming months I’m sure you’ll be seeing alot more of Margate Rocks around town, and we’ll continue to post more news about this years festival as the time grows nearer.

Substation Gallery, just off the high street at 6 Bilton Square, is hosting a group exhibition titled ‘Hugging for the English’.

Many of the works and events have been inspired by various different influences from within the town itself. Whilst it is situated in present day Margate, the nostalgic past is not forgotten.

The exhibition is intended to transcend the boundary between the viewer and the artwork to the extent that without the viewer, much of the work would remain incomplete.

In the run up to the exhibition, artist Victoria Foster’s ‘Sovenir Swap Shop’ is open and inviting you to contribute an item. Head down to the Substation Gallery to satisfy your curiosity!

The exhibition opens on Saturday the 17th at 6pm, and is then open from the 21st November until the closing events on the 30th November.

Visit the exhibition website for more information.

Following his last presentation on 18th June, David Chipperfield will be presenting the latest T.C. designs at 6:30pm on Tuesday 16th October 2007 at the Theatre Royal, Margate.

It will be interesting to see how the design has progressed since the last presentation, but if you can’t make it, you can be sure that we’ll cover all the developments here.

As always, these events are extremely popular, so booking is essential.
Reserve seats by emailing rfurlong@turnercontemporary.org or telephone 01843 294363.

It’s arrived, but not quite at the state some of us expected. Even though we will have to wait several more months to see the completed design, David Chipperfield’s presentation seemed to hit the mark for most of the audience who crammed into the Winter Gardens to see the latest plans for Turner Contemporary.

Mike Hill opened the presentation with a brief introduction to the project. He spoke passionately about his role in the project, and despite the usual comparisons with St Ives and Bilbao, he came across as someone with a genuine determination to succeed.

Following Mike Hill’s introduction, it was time for Victoria Pomery, director of Turner Contemporary to reiterate the Turner vision. She estimated that 130,000 visitors would visit in an average year, bringing at least £2 million for local businesses each year - the gallery itself would have a permenant staff of 35.

“The building has been driven by the need to design a gallery for presenting historical and contemporary art of the highest calibre that also offers a fantastic visitor experience. What we’re creating is a destination, and a programme, that visitors will want to return to again and again.”

Most crucially she outlined the work it will hold - a range of temporary modern and classic exhibitions, and guaranteed that there would be works by Turner present all year round (sourced from the Tate and private collections). Construction is scheduled to begin at the end of summer 2008, with the gallery open to the public in 2010.

Eventually, David Chipperfield, the guest speaker for the evening, took to the stage. Below is a full recording of his talk, but here’s some of the most important points.

• The design is still in the process of development - there is still work to do.
• “The rendezvous site is blessed. We couldn’t have a more beautiful view of the sea”
• One his major challenges is to connect the site with the town. The fort hill carriage way may be altered to make the gallery more accessible from the old town.
• They have quite a limited area to build in - they have to make room for the lifeboat slipway.
• Yet with every problem comes a hidden benefit - they have to set the building 2 meters above the ground level to avoid flooding, so they are planning a large ramp which will act as as access to gallery as well as acting as a large public square/terrace with outdoor artwork.
• He wants to build a “cultural community centre” - his has no problem attracting people already into art, his main aim is to draw those who aren’t.
• On the previous design: “You can make an idea of what you want to build - but without rubbing salt in the wound - to some degree that was the strategy of the first project - there was a bold beautiful idea that then tried to be realised - but the technical issues were not black and white” - Chipperfield has worked the other way round - he has accepted the complicated conditions of the site and worked from that basis.
• There are conflicts between designing a building and a gallery - gallery curators don’t like windows, but architects and visitors do. He has to find the middle ground between these points.
• There will be a large cantilever balcony/terrace on the north (sea) side.
• There will be three floors. The ground floor will be a multifunction space (including a lecture space, cafe and shop), the first floor will be an educational/didactic floor and the second floor will be an environmentally controlled “sanctuary” where works by Turner and other major exhibitions will be displayed.

David Chipperfield is the architect of the moment - he has designed some of the best recent examples of contemporary architecture and is involved in the creation of countless more. He was down to earth, rational, witty and pragmatic - he has an architectural reputation for perfection - his bold design for Turner Contemporary showed clarity and confidence.

“We are very excited with the designs. The challenge has been to create a building that responds to the opportunities of the site. We are confident that this design makes the most of site’s potential and remains sensitive to its unique setting.”

With barely time to catch his breath, the audience was permitted to put their questions to David and the other speakers (as well as other officials including Roger Gale and Sandy Ezekiel). Some of the more interesting points raised during the Q&A session included:

• The issue of transport between Margate station and Turner Contemporary. Sandy Ezekiel confirmed that investigations are being made into a shuttle service and a walkway between the two sites.
• Mike Hill stated that a landscape architect is involved in devising a plan for the rest of the rendezvous site - we can expect a total transformation of the whole area.
• Work is already under way to connect the Rendezvous site with the old town - at the moment it will be done with schemes of lighting, paving and banners - closer to the time this should become more substantial (including alterations to the fort hill carriage way).

The best exchange of all was from Wendy Allen - one of a trio of curmudgeons from the Independent Action Party who had been generally discourteous throughout the entire presentation. She offered a wonderfully turgid record of her local campaigning, from which she concluded that 99% of Thanet residents were opposed to the gallery, to which she received a strong rebuke from Sandy Ezekiel and Mike Hill (who in turn received the biggest applause of the evening). You will understand I don’t mind criticism towards the plan, but this was particularly cringe worthy - here it is in it’s glorious entirety.

Until the embargo on images is lifted, I am unable to post the latest plans, but they will be posted as soon as they become available.

Look back over the history of the Turner Contemporary, and see the events that stand out:

• The unveiling of the Snøhetta + Spence “blob” (31.10.01)
• Installation and subsequent washing-away of the test sculpture (24.01.05)
• U-turn over Snøhetta + Spence design - “back to the drawing board” (08.02.06)
• David Chipperfield chosen to design new gallery with £15 million budget (27.07.06)

After nearly a year of waiting, we will soon be able to add the “unveiling of the new Turner Contemporary design” to the time line.

David Chipperfield will present the designs for the new Turner Contemporary tonight (18th June). Turneround Margate will be present at the presentation, and we plan to bring you a comprehensive digest of all essential information, opinions and plans very soon after.

The presentation begins at 6pm till 8pm at the Margate Winter Gardens. Entrance is free but space is limited. It will be followed by an exhibition of the designs at Droit House, open Friday to Sunday, 10.00 - 17.00 from 22 June until 2 September.

Don’t forget to read our guide to some of David Chipperfield’s previous designs and what we could expect for Margate.

As you are no doubt aware, the self styled ‘Margate’s Big Event’ takes place over this weekend, filling the gap left after sponsorship troubles led to the cancellation of the annual air show which had proven to be a popular summer event.

In certain respects this should be a great success story - particularly since it’s free - and something that the organisers can be proud of. When I visited this evening, palm bay was already host to fair ground attractions and commercial stalls ready for the air show and variety acts to commence at the weekend.

Can I be the only one thinking it’s a shame the council can commit to supporting a second rate travelling fairground but have so far failed to stick up for Dreamland?

The airshow, fireworks, parachute display, quad bikes, birds of prey should, as Cllr Latchford has said, prove to be superb free event for the whole family.

You can find the full programme of events at the Thanet Council Website.

I’m thoroughly impressed by the diy-style music events that are going on at the Pharmacy Gallery down in Margate old-town.

For those of you after something rather different to Eurovision, then headlining tomorrow’s show (12th May) is Lords, who will be supported by a variety of other bands - Brain Dead, Lakes, The Pluto and local band Cubs. The show starts at 8pm and costs £4… and might I say - great flyer!

Whilst thrash metal isn’t quite my cup of tea (I’m an indie lad myself) this is exactly the kind of independent event that should be happening in Margate, and the organisers are onto a bloody good thing if they can keep events like this going.

I recall a comment on an earlier post which suggested that we needed to see arts events being organised from the bottom-up - I think we might be starting to see it; and with uncertainty still surrounding the future of the Lido, events like these are good news for music in Thanet.