Willie Williams: City Beacons
If you're around the City of London over the Christmas period - or paying a visit to Greenbelt HQ - you can see installations by Greenbelt 2011 Visual Arts contributor Willie Williams, with two London churches transformed into beacons of light.
Willie is best known for his live show designs for U2, REM, Lady Gaga and David Bowie among others, but also works in more intimate environments, as seen in his Greenbelt show from earlier this year Lumia Domestica. Bridging those two aspects of his work, the City Beacons installations place giant mirror-balls within the bell-towers of ancient city churches, "creating a joyful culture clash to light up the Winter night".
Here's more from Willie's website:
Williams uses the transformational quality of light to create a visual counterpart to the traditional function of the church bell tower. For centuries, the sound of the bell has been used to signify time, to call people to worship, to announce celebration or calamity. Here, the silent, moving beams reach into the surrounding environment, touching the neighbouring buildings with enigmatic fragments of light, to surprise, perplex and raise the spirits of Christmas rush hour.
This playful installation juxtaposes of the idea of Sacred Space with one of the defining symbols of trash culture - the disco mirror ball. This becomes a metaphor for the life of the City of London, where commerce, culture, history & trivia collide, but ultimately all must share the same space.
The installations run until January 3rd at St Vedast-alias-Foster, and at Greenbelt HQ, aka All Hallows on the Wall.
