The work, a creation of the American sculptor Tom Shannon, had just been inaugurated the day before the fateful gusts of wind.
The scene could have been taken from a contemporary Indiana Jones pastiche or a Roland Emmerich film. Tuesday morning in London, several giant silver balls swept down Tottenham Court Road, in the Fitzrovia district, hitting street furniture and interfering with traffic. The spheres – which the ballet would have caused no injuries – were neither from a lost temple nor from a Christmas decoration, but from an art installation.
Inaugurated the day before the accident, in St Giles Square, along Tottenham Court Road, the installation in question was designed by the American sculptor Tom Shannon. Title Four World Set, the structure composed of a pyramid of four spheres was to ensure until Friday the promotional campaign for the new album of the electronic duo Mount Kimbie. The whole was swept by the gusts of wind from storm Claudio which blew over the British archipelago at the start of the week.
Kai Campos, one of two members of Mount Kimbie, apologized on Tuesday for the destruction of the installation “gorgeous” by Tom Shannon. “I’m absolutely disgusted that more people didn’t get to see her this week”he said on Instagram, while consoling himself for having at least been able to present the work for a day.
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“People were still approaching it even though the rain was falling.he recalled. We had of course prepared for bad weather and strong winds, but we were unlucky last night. It was incredible, but too brief.
Born in 1947, Tom Shannon is particularly known for his steel and wood sculptures, as well as his long-term work on spherical and ovoid volumes. It has been exhibited in the past at the Center Pompidou and at the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris. The spheres of Four World Setas for them, seem to have been only covered with a metallic paper, torn during their tempestuous escape in the streets of London.
Before hitting the British Isles and Ireland, the Claudio depression also swept through France at the start of the week. The Atlantic coast was particularly affected, in the night from Monday to Tuesday, with gusts reaching 100 to 120 km / h on the coast of Brittany.