Page 173 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

Illuminated River reframes the Thames at night, offering a cultural experience that is open
air, free to view and accessible to all. An estimated 90 million people a year will see the
artwork over its minimum ten-year lifespan.

This visionary public art installation demonstrates how London continues to be a creative
and imaginative capital. In spite of the challenges of the past year, Illuminated River has
completed on time and on budget. The illuminations will transform perceptions of the
Thames at night, with every bridge in the installation having a different, never-repeated
lighting algorithm. Illuminated River offers the public the opportunity to enjoy the beauty
and calm of the Thames and its bridges and observe the varied architectural and
engineering heritages along London’s river.

The Illuminated River Foundation and its core project team have overcome many obstacles
to complete the project during COVID-19 restrictions. In the midst of the pandemic,
Villareal was unable to travel to the UK to programme the artwork in person. Instead, the
artist used LiveU streaming technology to view and adjust the light sequences in real time
from his New York studio. This provided a precision and accuracy almost equal to physical
proximity, transmitting footage with less than a second in time delay and allowing Villareal
to fine-tune the artwork as if ‘en plein air’. Illuminated River is the first completed art
project in the UK to use LiveU streaming technology from a remote location.

The launch marks the culmination of one of the largest and most detailed planning
processes London has ever seen, with 30 planning permissions and 18 listed building
consents granted. Over the past five years, the Illuminated River Foundation has
orchestrated the collaboration between its American artist and British architects, Lifschutz
Davidson Sandilands, in conjunction with 18 specialist teams. An extensive network of
more than 50 stakeholders and project partners includes seven London boroughs, five
bridge owners, Transport for London, Network Rail, as well as organisations such as
Historic England, the London Wildlife Trust and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Funded almost exclusively by philanthropic donations from four major benefactors, this
impressive project demonstrates an unprecedented level of collaboration across the
disciplines of art, design, lighting, technology, planning and construction, informed by
expertise including ecology, sustainability and civil engineering. To share learning from the
project for the benefit of all, the Foundation is making its extensive and ground-breaking
research and learning freely available as a public resource.

To celebrate the completion, a new public engagement programme for 2021 will be
launched by the Illuminated River Foundation, with innovative evening activities created
for different audiences (in line with potential tier restrictions). A number of digital
initiatives form part of the programme, including a second collaboration with the Guildhall
School of Music and Drama, where student composers have created new, free-to-
download music inspired by the bridges and the artwork. Blind and partially sighted people
are invited to engage with the artwork through descriptive audio guides. Created in
collaboration with the charity VocalEyes, the downloadable tracks interweave descriptions
of the artworks and the bridges with cultural, historical and social references while evoking
the atmosphere of each piece.