Page 154 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

debacle of the Garden Bridge, a venture that swallowed more than £50 million (most of it from

the public purse) before the plans were ignominiously abandoned in 2017.

Rothschild, who praises the architect Thomas Heatherwick’s “excellent” design for the ill-fated

structure, decided to raise the money from private sources. (The City of London did, though,

inject £500,000, while the London mayor’s office added £250,000 in seed funding.) The

Rothschild Foundation provided some of the £35 million; the rest came from sources including
the foundations of the Reuben and Blavatnik families, and the Arcadia charitable fund.

As for choosing the artist for the task, an international competition led to the commissioning of
Villareal, who had already worked wonders on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, a sturdy old

workhorse that had always lived in the shadow of its much more glamorous cousin, the Golden

Gate Bridge. Villareal’s proposal for the so-called Bay Lights, which required fitting tens of

thousands of bulbs to the bridge’s cables, was supposed to be a temporary project. But after its

inauguration in 2013 the installation proved such a hit with the locals that it has become a
permanent part of the landscape.

With luck, Illuminated River could have the same impact. Rothschild says the organisation has
already received inquiries from city officials in Paris and Seoul, looking for ways of enhancing

riverside views. (London hasn’t been alone in coming up with ideas, by the way. Liverpool has

just played host to another of its River of Light art exhibitions in its waterfront district.)

Lockdown, sadly, has disrupted some of the Illuminated River plans for spin-off activities, but

the director, Sarah Gaventa, insists that there will be low-cost boat and walking tours designed
to get people — especially from poorer local communities — closer to life on the river. (“You

don’t normally have a chance to get close-up to the Thames unless you fall in,” she says.) After-

dark mudlarking will also be on the schedule. Who knows, maybe Gaventa will be able to

persuade the National Theatre’s boss, Rufus Norris — who I know is a self-confessed mudlarker

— to get his hands dirty too. Students at the Guildhall have been involved in creating bespoke
soundtracks for each of the bridges, which are available on SoundCloud. A 21st-century

equivalent to Handel’s Water Music, in other words. There is even the promise of what Gaventa

describes as a “Boris rap”. The mind boggles.

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