Black Rock Beachcombers

Three cast-aluminium marker sculptures and an augmented reality app reveal Black Rock's ecological, social, and engineering histories.

Three Black Rock Beachcombers marker sculptures installed on posts along the Black Rock boardwalk in Brighton.

Black Rock Beachcombers is a collaborative public artwork by Alex May and Anna Dumitriu for the new boardwalk at Black Rock on Brighton’s eastern seafront. The work consists of three cast-aluminium marker sculptures, focused on nature, people, and engineering, together with an augmented reality app that lets visitors digitally rewild the site with sea kale. Built through photogrammetry, digital collage, and 3D modelling, the sculptures gather together scanned objects, local references, and site research to reveal layers of biological, historical, and infrastructural memory embedded in Black Rock.

The project relates closely to May’s wider practice through its use of digital tools to shape how places are recorded, interpreted, and remembered. Here that concern moves into public space: scanning, modelling, and AR are used not to simplify the site, but to hold multiple timescales together, from the raised beach and coastal ecology to local social history and contemporary regeneration. The work asks how technology can uncover what is usually overlooked and create new ways of encountering a place in transition.

Additional notes

  • Black Rock Beachcombers was commissioned by Brighton & Hove City Council as part of the Black Rock Rejuvenation Project, following research and development between 2021 and 2024.
  • The sculptures were installed on 28 November 2024 and launched publicly in December 2024.
  • The project was developed with support from Bridget Sawyers Art Consultants and formed part of the wider public art strategy for Black Rock.
  • Alex May carried out drone-based photogrammetry of the cliffs between Brighton Marina and Rottingdean, and the digital collage process combined multiple scans in Blender.
  • The augmented reality component, Black Rock Beachcombers AR, was developed in Unity and allows visitors to plant virtual sea kale on site.
  • The sculptures were fabricated by Art Intelligence and cast in aluminium for long-term durability in the coastal environment.
  • Further project documentation is available at blackrockbeachcombers.co.uk.

Selected images

The nature sculpture from Black Rock Beachcombers, combining sea kale, seaweed, and coastal forms into a cast-aluminium marker.
Nature sculpture detail.
The people sculpture from Black Rock Beachcombers, combining local symbols, historical references, and seaside fragments into a cast-aluminium marker.
People sculpture detail.
The engineering sculpture from Black Rock Beachcombers, combining transport and infrastructure references into a cast-aluminium marker.
Engineering sculpture detail.