About The Project

Vote for art in Uckfield

People in Uckfield have a unique opportunity to help choose a piece of specially commissioned artwork for display in the town centre.

Three maquettes (small models of the proposed artworks) will be on display in the Civic Centre from Saturday 25 August to Wednesday 5 September and Uckfield residents are asked to vote for their favourite at the Civic Centre and online.

The artworks, made by installation artist Malcolm Buchanan-Dick, were inspired by the Vision for Uckfield design day, organised by RIBA South East and held in March this year.

Malcolm explains: ‘Major themes of the day were about movement and flow – of people, ideas and traffic and about unlocking the potential of the town centre.’

He suggested two possibilities for artworks to display in a public space in the town.  The first idea is a series of three figures relating to movement in space. ‘The head made from keys’ is about unlocking ideas and potential. It is a detail representing the materials and methods to be used in the fabrication of the three figures.

The second idea, ‘Pipe-tree’, is a sculpture with working organ pipes attached to its arms, that will produce sound on the hour during the day and will create an intriguing landmark sculpture and time piece for the town centre.
Malcolm has created This website to track the progress of the project and enable people to vote – www.uckfieldsculpture.co.uk - which was launch on 25 August.

Malcolm was helped in his work by Adam Hender, a sound artist, so the finished artwork will also contain an element of sound. Malcolm’s involvement was funded by Arts Council England, South East through Grants for the arts.
Councillor Ian Smith of Uckfield Town Council said ‘ This is a very important part of the Town Council’s initiative to improve the way the town centre looks and feels.  The Vision for Uckfield day has given us the framework for a masterplan that will reshape the town and make it fit for the 21st century.  To commission an artwork that fits in with these new ideas will be a great catalyst for our future plans.’

The Council should be able to decide at its meeting in September which of the  pieces of artwork should be commissioned as a full-sized work.
You can make your choice from the maquettes, which will be found at the entrance to the Weald Hall in the Civic Centre.
Voting ends at 5pm on Wednesday 5th September.