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Lights in the sky over London - UEL academic coordinates major art project

Monday 21 November 2011

Relay Kings Cross

Following its official launch on Wednesday, visitors to King’s Cross have been able to scan the night sky for an (Un) Identified Flying Object.

An art installation was set hovering over the area on Wednesday, where it will continue to shine down on one of London’s biggest transport hubs for the next two years.

The piece entitled IFO (Identified Flying Object) is by French artist and architect Jacques Rival and is part of RELAY, an art programme coordinated by UEL academic Michael Pinsky and art critic Stéphanie Delcroix, as a joint Anglo-French project. The duo have been selected to coordinate the first three years of this nine-year arts programme, set to turn King’s Cross into a destination for discovering international contemporary art.

The bars of IFO’s 9 metre high, dome-shaped cage are wide enough apart to walk through, so visitors during the day can enter the cage and sit on the swing at its centre, enjoying the surroundings from this unusual vantage point. By night, the bars of the cage will be illuminated in a brilliant array of colours and once a month, the whole artwork will be hoisted up into the air by the biggest crane on the site.

Michel Pinsky said: “Jacques Rival’s response to King’s Cross is both poetic and pertinent. This nomadic sculpture follows the flux and flow of this new district, which is evolving day by day. Over the coming months, IFO will be found over coffee kiosks, amidst the construction sites, on buildings and, of course, in the sky. Its structure will host seminars, cafes, gardens and performances”.

The programme’s title, RELAY, is inspired by the continual carrying and preserving of the Olympic flame and by King’s Cross as an international transport hub and a place in transition.

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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