APOLLO 50
2019
Apollo 50 was a Durham County Council initiative to celebrate 50 years since the building of the Apollo Pavilion, Peterlee.
The concrete pavilion, a renowned example of brutalist architecture designed by Victor Pasmore, was unveiled on the towns Sunny Blunts estate in 1969, with its name chosen in honour of that years Apollo moon landing. Durham County Council chose to mark five decades of the structure with a calendar of celebrations, which also formed #Durham19 – a year of events and activities to celebrate everything the county has to offer in cultural and sporting terms.
As part of council celebrations, Artichoke produced Apollo 50, a mesmerising artwork by Berlin-based artists, Mader Wiermann. Their video-mapped light sequence accompanied by a gentle, undulating soundscape transformed Pasmore’s iconic design over the course of two nights.
Photo by Lee Dobson
Photo by Lee Dobson
Photo by Lee Dobson
Photo by Lee Dobson
The programme also included a temporary installation by artist Steve Messam, incorporating large colourful, soft, rounded, 3D forms in contrast with the hard, angular structure of the concrete pavilion. This playful, tactile and colourful work formed a striking, temporary installation for Peterlee.
Visually exciting, this light up installation could be walked through, creating a new experience for locals and visitors alike to capture the full effect of these playful forms in an intriguing way of engaging with this iconic architecture.
Commissioned especially for the Apollo 50 birthday party, Barry Hyde, from The Futureheads wrote and performed the song ‘Standing on the Moon’ working with 500 children from across Peterlee. The community gathered on Helford Road playing fields to throw a birthday party to mark 50 years to the day that the Saturn 5 rocket launched the crew of Apollo 11.
“We built a monument in Peterlee, A bold and futuristic fantasy”
Between May and November 2019, artist Theresa Easton delivered 26 workshops with 12 groups of mixed ages, across schools and community settings in Peterlee. Together, they made hundreds of Zines (fanzines) in response to the Apollo 50 celebration events as they happened throughout the year. The Zine was included as an insert in 8,000 copies of the East Durham Life, with a further 4,000 distributed through schools and community venues.
Project partners:
Apollo 50 was delivered in partnership with Durham County Council.
— Durham County Council
— East Durham Area Action Partnership
— Arts Council England
— Apollo Pavillion Community Association
— No More Nowt
