Keep

‘Keep’ is a large-scale temporary art installation for Kendal. A 9-metre high bright red castellated tower sits on Castle Howe overlooking Kendal and the Kentdale Valley beyond. A gothic arched doorway leads into the tower to reveal a bouncy castle interior. Within the context of Kendal, ‘Keep’ is a playful intervention in the rich history of the town and landscape. The bright red creating a very surreal and colourful presence in the ‘Old Grey Town’, it converses with the existing Kendal Castle on the other side of the river. The Red vs the White, as two rooks on a chess board of landscape. Within the wider narrative of the Lake District National Park and UNESCO World Heritage bid, ‘Keep’ symbolises mans incessant desire to conquer the landscape and make his mark. For some ‘Keep’ is a strong visual accent in the landscape - much as imagined in the picturesque movement and the much older Chinese cultural tradition which itself is uncannily close to the English Picturesque and Romanticism for which the Lake District played a pivotal role. For others it’s something fun for the sake of fun for which the adventure of the lakeland fells is to many.