In 2016 Futurecity assembled a project team for the Illuminated River Competition. The brief asked for ‘ideas to transform the capital with a unified kinetic light installation across Central London’s bridges that would connect, celebrate and capture the spirit of the Thames and its diverse communities’.
The competition attracted 105 submissions from around the globe; the winning proposal (selected by an interdisciplinary panel) was from a collaborative team including Futurecity, FuturePace and American artist Leo Villareal, who impressed the jury with his ambition to create site-specific, lighting proposals for each individual bridge and the ambition to connect all 15 installations into one large-scale, undulating, connected, kinetic-artwork.
Announcing the results of the competition, Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said: “We saw an incredible response to this fascinating competition, showing that London continues to inspire creatives from around the globe, and is open to all. There were some spectacular ideas, and I can’t wait to see the winning design light up the Thames.”
Leo Villareal said: “I’m delighted and humbled by the fact that the jury went with an artistically-driven vision for the Illuminated River. The whole team shares a belief in the power of large-scale public culture and art to enrich our cities. We are deeply committed to this project. In order to nuance the concept design and create presence and legibility, we intend to take time to study the river in all its manifestations.
We want to listen to Londoners in developing the scheme to deliver at all levels of art and light, urban design and architecture, the environment and sustainability. Our aim is for a lighting masterplan which reduces pollution and wasted energy, is sensitive to history and ecology and subtly rebalances the ambient lighting on the river to provide a beautiful night time experience for residents and visitors.”
See further detail on our news page here.
