|
|
 |
| |
Michael Brown with his artwork Bluerain, which will display titles of books being checked in and out of the university library |
Students upset by missing penguin riddle get new art
Can scrunched sculpture by Turner Prize winner and ‘raining’ library book titles really become renowned London tourist sights? Watch and see, says uni
THEY still, through angry, gritted teeth, blame King’s College. Ask any of the students down at the London School of Economics in Holborn what happened to one of their favourite mascots, a sizable penguin sculpture which they so loved to pose with when stumbling out of the uni nightclub, and they all think it was p-p-p-picked up by pranksters from the rival college.
There have been whispers about revenge capers and missions to steal something in retaliation, but many LSE learners still feel they have been left the victims in all the silliness.
A much-loved piece of art, the penguin hasn’t been seen since vanishing in March. The practical jokers who stole it didn’t even have the decency – as is the norm with university pranks – to ensure that it re-emerged in an unusual position such as on top of a high building or in the provost’s private offices.
The perpetrators could be halfway to Brazil by now. We might never know what really happened.
But maybe it’s the LSE students who suffered more bruised pride than the university’s bosses, who this week were undeterred about their efforts to brighten up their corner of Kingsway and were gearing up to officially unveil two more striking works of public art.
Already capturing the imagination of students, Bluerain has been attached to the Lionel Robbins Building, home to the university’s huge library, in Portugal Street.
A giant board of blue lights, it essentially works like this: As students have books checked out at the front desk of the library or search for information on the library’s computers, the titles of their books will be flashed up. The idea is that so many searches and loans are made that the words overlap and the blue lights make a pretty pattern. Like shimmering blue rain, as its title suggests.
The students with a sense of humour left after the loss of their beloved penguin were telling each other this week to be careful not to check out, during quiet times, anything that might sound embarrassing – because if there isn’t enough of an overlap the whole of Holborn will know you’ve taken out Carry On Emmannuelle on loan.
The New Journal was assured this week that the artwork is unlikely to display just one or two words even in quiet times. And of course, the university doesn’t have a copy of Carry On Emmannuelle to rent.
Bluerain – once sniffed at by the Public Advisory Art Committee in neighbouring Westminster – won planning permission in Camden. There was the customary “yes-but-is-it-art?” debate but few genuinely difficult hurdles for the 23,520 blue diodes (lights to you and me) to cross before they were stuck on the library wall.
It will not be officially opened until the start of next month, but LSE folk have taken to the artwork, a gift from two old students, and say it comes into its own at dusk.
Michael Brown, the American artist who put it together, said: “Observed from a distance the artwork looks like shimmering cascades of light, or blue rain, but on closer observation it becomes clear that the blue rain is made up of words. These reflect research being carried out within the library and include online searches as well as titles of materials being checked in and out. Bluerain follows in the tradition of my interactive work. It is designed to be an interactive experience, the blue light drawing people to the artwork and the realisation that the diodes reflect the research within.”
To fend off environmentalists before they can even get started, LSE have already put out a statement declaring that the artwork will use less energy than a 100 watt light bulb.
And the razzle dazzle of having library loans flashed across the wall like the facade of a West End theatre isn’t all LSE have artwise to banish the post-penguin blues.
Two-time Turner Prize winner Richard Wilson officially launches Squaring The Corner in Sardinia Street with a celebration on Monday night. Seen here still in production (pictured left), it shows how the flat angles of the university’s New Academic Building could be squared off, “mimicking” – to use LSE’s art world talk – the building’s original design.
Five storeys high, the base is made up of scrunched up designs which LSE believes could become a “sight-seeing must”.
Paul Hobson, director of the Contemporary Art Society, said: “Richard’s sculpture for LSE is set to become a renowned public artwork for London and we are delighted to have had the opportunity to work with the artist on such an ambitious project. LSE’s bold approach to commissioning contemporary art is to be commended, one which we hope sets a benchmark for public sculpture in our city.”
And LSE’s director of planning and development, Julian Robinson, added: “Although we specialise in the social sciences, LSE is also serious about art and architecture.
“This sculpture will be an important contribution to the public art of the capital and will no doubt become part of the London scene and a sight-seeing must.”
Percy – or whatever that lost penguin was called – might be missing, but LSE aren’t ready to give up on public art just yet. |
 |
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
