20km worth of tape has been used to make a monumental cardboard construction that was built and then pulled down on Ipswich Cornhill.
French artist, Olivier Grossetête, together with Ipswich residents, set up the 14-metre-high construction of Cardinal Wolsey’s imagined college gate in Ipswich as a part of the SPILL Festival.
The gate was made entirely from cardboard and tape and weathered the rain from Storm Babet as it was pieced together on Saturday.
The artist used 20km of tape, which is almost the distance from Ipswich to Stowmarket.
It was built on Saturday, October 21, and deconstructed less than 24 hours later, coming down on Sunday at 4pm.
About 12,000 people took part in the build and deconstruction.
The construction was then pulled down by a team of about 70 members of the public, using a series of heavy ropes that were entwined around the building.
Once the gate had hit the ground and was declared safe to approach, another 800 people, mainly children, participated in jumping on the building and pulling it to pieces, then carrying each piece of cardboard to the festival’s recycling dumpster.
Within one hour the Cornhill looked completely clean and tidy, as if nothing had happened there.
The monumental construction was supported by Thomas Wolsey 550, Ipswich Borough Council and Ipswich Central.
A SPILL festival organiser said before the event: “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.
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