Clifton Park set to welcome "Oceanic oasis" next week

PIGS might fly, as the saying goes — but giant swimming fish will appear at Clifton Park next week to celebrate the build-up to Rotherham becoming the world’s first Children's Capital of Culture in 2025.

For three days from Tuesday, July 26, to Thursday, July 28, the public can experience a 70m tall exhibit of swimming fish at Clifton Park in a free event. 

In the first public art installation of its kind, visitors will able to stare up at the oceanic oasis and watch a shoal of 8m-long fish swimming in the sky. 

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There will also be a tent next to the installation where people can take part in free creative workshops and make their own replica mobiles to take home. 

The mobile has been constructed by international production studio Kaleider, in collaboration with a group of young trainees employed by Rotherham Council.

Kaleider’s artistic director, Seth Honnor, said: “During lockdown last year, I started sending mobile making kits to friends and family, and we discovered that a mobile can help to slow things down and enthral us deeply.

"I wanted to share this experience more broadly and began thinking about scaling it up.

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"When Rotherham Council got in touch to ask if we'd be interested in partnering on Children's Capital of Culture in 2025, it was the perfect fit and we agreed to team up to make a giant kinetic sculpture."

Commissioned by RMBC and funded by a government grant, the exhibit is part of a wider programme where local young people will be offered life-changing skills, development, and training in the creative and cultural sectors. 

The pilot programme is funded by the UK Community Renewal Fund, part of a £1,813,350 grant awarded for the Rotherham Children of Culture project. 

RMBC's cabinet member for social inclusion, Cllr Dave Sheppard, thanked Kaleider and the young trainees — part of the pilot programme for the past seven months - for bringing “this huge piece of artwork” to life. 

He added: “It really demonstrates their creativity and provides a brilliant taster of what to expect in 2025.”