Becoming Invisible in the Bascule Chamber of Tower Bridge
2017
Son et lumière with narration by hypnotherapist Ruth Sabrosa, smoke, light, strobes.
Groups of 50 participants were led down a vertiginous staircase to the Bascule Chamber below Tower Bridge accompanied by the sound of amplified breathing. Once there a single spotlight faded slowly up and down while a disembodied voice described a method for becoming invisible. At the climax of the event a bank of dazzling strobe lights illuminated the space.
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Saturday 1st July 2017 3pm - 2am
Art Night 2017 is a free contemporary arts festival transforming London's East End for one unforgettable night. It takes place on Saturday 1 July, presenting acclaimed international art in various historic and iconic sites, secret locations and public spaces. Conceived as new site-specific commissions, Art Night 2017 responds directly to east London's heritage and diversity. Participating artists are Charles Avery, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Benedict Drew, Anne Hardy, Lawrence Lek, Melanie Manchot, Lindsay Seers, Do Ho Suh, Günes Terkol and Ian Whittlesea.
Art Night 2017 is in collaboration with Whitechapel Gallery and curated by Fatos Üstek. The festival is supported by international auction house Phillips, and receives public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
For Art Night 2017 Ian Whittlesea will present Becoming Invisible in the Bascule Chamber, a cavernous space underneath Tower Bridge, making a new light and sound work specifically for the site.
Becoming Invisible will be an esoteric son et lumière, a monochrome mass-hallucination of colour and simultaneously an attempt to vanish
The audience will be led in groups to the Bascule Chamber, a normally dark and unseen void below the river, where they will take part in an illuminated meditation with the aim of splitting light into its constituent parts, before recombining the colours of the spectrum into a glowing white cloud.