See Monster was a bold and unusual public art installation that took over part of the Weston-super-Mare seafront in late 2022.
It was originally planned to open earlier in the summer of 2022, with organisers aiming for an opening during July/August to coincide with the peak holiday season. However, due to the unprecedented nature of the project and weather-related delays during construction (such as high winds and rain), it wasn’t ready in time. That pushed the full public opening back into late September.
The installation eventually opened to the public on 23/24 September 2022, missing most of the traditional summer season it had hoped to catch — a delay of roughly 6–8 weeks from its initial planned opening timeframe.
A retired 450-tonne North Sea offshore platform was repurposed and transformed into one of the UK’s largest interactive art pieces as part of the Unboxed: Creativity in the UK festival. Standing about 35 metres tall and located at the Tropicana on the seafront, the structure featured four publicly accessible levels, a 10-metre waterfall, a 6,000-piece kinetic “scale” artwork, wild gardens of plants suited to the coastal climate, an amphitheatre, a slide, wind-powered sculptures and even a broadcast studio — all designed to spark conversation around reuse, sustainability and renewable energy.
Although the installation itself was only open to the public from September to November 2022 and has since been dismantled, its legacy lives on in Weston-super-Mare. Many of the trees and plants from See Monster’s garden have been replanted in the new SEE MONSTER Garden and pétanque court on the Beach Lawns, creating a lasting green space that visitors and locals can enjoy year-round.
These are photos of the rise, life, times and fall of See Monster that I took between May 2022 and January 2023. RIP See Monster.
That Darren Lehane 