"What a great opportunity to return to the De La Warr Pavilion.

This was the fifteenth Anniversary of the first artist / architect residency at the pavilion, back in 1992, which launched the amazing restoration and exciting education programme.

At that time architect Susie French and I were concerned about the environment over the aspect of the thinning ozone layer. Our installation "Cataract" made the glass tower into 'white-out" zone, simulating the misty look of a retina damaged by sunlight, and we brought a sandy beach into the building, indicating that this may be the way we have to be in the future- enjoying simulations rather than the real thing, the experience of clean air and sea breezes. Local school-children came up with some brilliant uses for the building, including a water playground and a butterfly farm. It would be really interesting to speak to some of those children now they have grown up and see what their reaction to the pavilion is now.

My response as a returning artist was to be so impressed by the way the building has been restored, it is pristine "with soul" - now a living sculpture/ sculptural space, as Mendelsohn no doubt intended.

When I was invited to do a workshop for architecture week, I looked again at the many drawings Susie and I did during our joint residency and two themes stood out that relate to ideas that have recurred in my work during the intervening years. One is the way the Pavilion relates to its external environment and its potential for "extension' beyond its existing parameters Quite a few of the original drawings related to Mendelsohn's design for the pavilion to be physically united with the sea, with a small pier. Other drawings offered new configurations involving air, including light projections. A theme that resonated was that of the Elements -we laid part of Pablo Neruda's poem The elements - down the spiral steps. (an extract on Time passing - this seemed timely then and even more so now).

And, thinking about the Elements - air, earth, fire, water - what occurred to me looking anew at the Pavilion, was that ENERGY is really the new GOLD, in alchemical terms. It's THE important need or desired commodity.

Looking at the Pavilion from this perspective, and combining these two concerns - the building and its context; and the building's function beyond a pleasure palace - and now the health benefits of being in the sun are acknowledged. Cataract was described as 'elegiac' .

For this anniversary workshop, taking place in Architecture Week, with its 'green' theme, I proposed a much more optimistic scheme - the creation of a transparent wave, to re-connect the pavilion with the sea, visually at least, and to 'flag up' the potential of wind- and wave- power as means of creating energy.

It also offered an opportunity to celebrate the bio-diversity of life in the oceans and pay homage to Mendelsohn's fascination with "stratified" nature, including "lower" forms of life such as jelly-fish.

So "The Waves of the Universe" was created - this grand-sounding title a little tongue-in-cheek; it is a reference to a chapter-heading in a school physics textbook. A transparent wall was "extruded" from the auditorium to make a wave-shaped structure snaking towards the sea. Sea-creatures were added to it by various groups and individuals, some invited and some spontaneously joining in, to create an invasion of another element to the sun-worshipping building. These included jellyfish, star-fish, anemones, shrimps (including some newly discovered species); tropical and local fish. Some of these were applied as shoals, including a circular group echoing the round plaque that originally decorated the Eastern wall. At the centre of this "shoal" were placed two real golden fish (smoked sprats from Hastings fish market).

I would like to thank and praise the helpfulness and resourcefulness of the Pavilion front-of-house staff on all aspects - including battling with the on-shore wind during the installation of the structure; Polly Gifford for her calm and consistent enthusiasm; the participating members of the Bexhill Art Society who played the major role in creating the wave, all those who created sea-creatures and added their comments and appreciation.

As well as the above, here are some aspects I specially enjoyed about working on this installation workshop -

the little girl who came running up towards the end of the workshop, asking excitedly "Are there some fish down here?"; the comments of visitors and Pavilion staff including "terrific"; "ace"; "fantastic", "witty" and "cool" and it was really gratifying that people across the generations were involved- the input from Bexhill Art Society was fantastic and unstinting; local families joined in and groups of teenagers helped greatly in helping put the wave up on the grass.

I was delighted to work with everyone to make another layer of memory for this remarkable building and wish it well with its many as yet untapped adventures, explorations and interpretations."

Anne Tockwell

July 2007