Stormy weather will not stop a French artist from building a monumental construction made entirely from cardboard and tape on Ipswich Cornhill this weekend.
The artist, Olivier Grossetête, will be leading the construction of Cardinal Wolsey’s imagined college gate in Ipswich as a part of the SPILL Festival.
Mr Grossetête will be constructing the gate made entirely from cardboard and tape on Saturday, October 21, from 10am until 9pm.
The monument will be deconstructed less than 24 hours later, coming down on Sunday at 4pm.
Students, school pupils, and members of the public have been busy working with the artist and his team at the Corn Exchange all this week on certain elements of pre-fabrication.
SPILL Festival organisers said: “The Cardinal never got to see the designs for his college completed; all that’s left of it today is the historic Wolsey Gate on College Street near St Peter’s Church.
“This October, we will finish building it together, before gathering for a public demolition — a huge, joyful celebration of Ipswich and its people.
“Want to get hands-on before the construction weekend? We’re looking for people to join our community-build workshops!”
Since 2000, the artist Olivier Grossetête, who lives and works in Marseille, has travelled across the world to create almost 250 different constructions inspired by local architecture, visiting five continents and recruiting thousands of people in his adventure.
His work is based on recovery and misappropriation: cardboard, fines, refusal letters, etc.
He plays with words, shapes, gravity, volumes, and materials, and tries to swing these elements into a world of fiction and dream.
This weekend, Ipswich residents will be able to join him in a family-friendly spectacle on Ipswich Cornhill.
Everybody is welcome to get involved as much or as little as they like, joining in with the build and helping tear the construction down after, or watching from a distance as the college comes together.
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