During this welcome Bank Holiday weekend I stumble upon a new installation on Swansea Bay next to County Hall: artist Jackie Chettur has positioned a series of 3-D viewers (see my picture) facing out to sea. At first sight this looks like just a curious sculpture - and it is that - but on closer inspection every viewer contains a seascape created with old post-cards, models of ships, etc, photographed stereoscopically to create dramatic events, including fires at sea, storms, and exotic locations during a nineteenth century clipper's voyage from Swansea to Chile to collect copper ore. Authentic quotations from mariners' logs are attached to each viewer to create a startlingly vivid story. I notice that many people are too embarrassed to look through the viewers, the exception being those with children who of course insist on looking and enjoy the story. You can see a couple of examples on the artist's website although of course these don't give the 3-D effect. Good fun - see it until 23 May.
