SHOPPERS expecting a Walthamstow wasteland to be transformed into a branch of the Guggenheim Museum will have their hopes dashed.

Confusion sprang up after advertisements were posted on the Arcade site at the top of Walthamstow High Street saying that an international museum was coming to town.

We can reveal the adverts are actually previewing an art exhibition that will be featured at venues around E17 from this weekend.

Waltham Forest Council is backing the project, named News From Nowhere: Visions of Utopia.

Venues including the William Morris Gallery, Waltham Forest Theatre in Lloyd Park, and the Changing Room Gallery will feature interactive exhibits.

Steve Wheeler is curating the project for Art-Tracks, an international culture group.

He said it would look at the beliefs of idealists from the 18th and 19th centuries, and took its name from a novel by the socialist, designer and former Walthamstow resident William Morris.

The Arcade site is being installed with special "spy holes" to show views of Utopia an ideal world.

This weekend the Changing Room Gallery will be the base for a spoof team of reporters collecting stories of sightings of Utopia.

Everyone is welcome to find out more by visiting from Saturday until Sunday, September 18, from 10am to 4pm.

An island in Lloyd Park will be declared the Utopian Independent Island State and visitors will have to negotiate their way across the waters to view sculptures and audio-visual installations.

More information is available from the website at www.art-tracks.net/Utopia