Ambit: Rare photo of the Sunderland sculpture getting a clean-up

We are talking about the sculpture Ambit and this Sunderland Echo archive photo shows the artwork getting a clean-up on a bitterly cold January day in 2000.

Toast of the arts world

Divers from Divesafe had to brave the water while they were giving Ambit its monthly clean and check.

It was a sculpture which had plenty of headlines over its lifetime.

Ambit was the toast of the arts world when it was unveiled in Sunderland in September 1999.

The 22-tonne, 130ft ring of steel was fitted with a lighting system which was designed to create a halo in the water.

A testimony to Sunderland heritage

It was created by Turner Prize-nominated artist Alison Wilding, and built at a cost of £250,000 as a testimony to Sunderland’s shipbuilding heritage.

Ambit was launched on September 29, 1999 on the site of Austin’s Pontoon, but ran into problems within weeks of its unveiling.

By October that year, its lights had begun to fail, and on February 1,6 2000 it was taken from the Wear for tests and repairs after corrosion was spotted, returning to the water in March.

In 2002, it was dismantled.

But we want to know if you liked Ambit and whether you would have loved to see it return.

If so, email [email protected] to tell us more.