NORTH Yorkshire landscape artist Kane Cunningham has used his credit card to buy a house in Cayton that is about to fall into the sea, bringing a new meaning to financial collapse.

A bungalow at Knipe Point, the scene of the infamous Holbeck Hotel cliff collapse 16 years ago, has been condemned after a fresh landslip. Now its dying days will be played out as the subject of The House: an artwork reflecting the times we live in.

‘I’ve bought a house that will be the next one to fall over the cliff,” says Kane. “It feels like I have no choice. I’m going to rig the house with cameras and film the last sunrise before nature claims its bounty.

“It’s the perfect site-specific installation: a stark reminder of lost dreams, financial disaster and threatening sea levels. It’s global recession and global warming encapsulated. This little house is only feet away from the edge of the cliff – it can go at any moment.”

Kane’s idea is to create an artwork on a scale never before seen in North Yorkshire. “I want to stimulate within the imagination of the public the idea that this house falling into the sea can become a work of art,” he says. “If the aim of art is to stimulate discussion and debate on issues, then surely this will get people talking.”

Kane is best known for his landscape paintings and sees The House as an extension of his artistic philosophy. “My work has always been about understanding the social and political context of landscape; The House is just a development of these ideas,” he says.

Kane bought the house for £3,000, yet only two years ago it was valued at more than £160,000. “Now it is worth just a fraction of the original price,” he says. “The purchase of this house on my credit card is a deliberate financial transaction suggesting the link to credit, sub prime mortgages, property ownership, debt, loans, the financial markets, property speculation, boom and bust.”

One further idea has emerged as a result of The House project. “I’m inviting people to send me letters on any subject. These will be pinned to a wall as part of the artwork, then destroyed as the house disappears. So who knows what they may contain?” says Kane.

“This will be called The Last Post as the address will one day cease to exist and so it’s a rare opportunity to participate in an original and unique work of art.”

Letters should be addressed to Kane Cunningham, 20 Knipe Point, Cayton, Scarborough or sent by email to kane@kanecunningham.co.uk

Further information is available online at kanecunningham.co.uk