A piece of Dover’s history returns.

‘The Table’ sculpture is back at in the town at Charlton Green.

‘The Table’ was built in the Old Sorting Office at Charlton Green. Weighing about 5 tons and measuring 4 meters across, it is constructed from timber reclaimed from the Britannia pub and Buckland paper mill and was built by artists Anthony Heywood and Uwe Derksen, with help from local students, young people and long-term unemployed from Dover.

It was shown in Dover in the Market Square as part of the London 2012 Olympics ‘one year to go celebrations’ in 2011 and part funded by the Town Council who have also funded its return to the Town.

The “Table” is a symbol of peace, inspired by Brancusi’s Table of Silence which was part of a sculptural ensemble built as a war memorial to peace at Turgu jui Romania in 1937. It is intended to encourage contemplation and conversation and provide a place for storytelling and other events with the community.

Passers-by welcomed the return of the table during the installation last week.

Something new, that’s nice, I like change. Happy New Year. 

A bit of Dover’s history coming back.

Artist Anthony Heywood was pleased to see the “Table” back where it belongs;

It is great to see the work back in Dover close to where it was created – it already looks to be integrating into its new environment as the footpath close by provides many possibilities for the audience to engage with the work – the sculpture has a great deal of history for many members of the community as the timbers that are built into the work are from significant buildings in the town which were undergoing demolition. We have recycled these timbers into the structure of our work. The sculpture also has a time capsule embedded into the structure.