Fires Ancient
was commissioned by Artichoke Trust as part of
Great Fire 350,
commemorating 350 years since the Great Fire of London.
With
Fires Modern
(simultaneously projected onto the flytower of the National Theatre),
Fires Ancient
formed a diptich responding to the threat, beauty, and possibilities of fire. Both projections appeared nightly from dusk to 11pm from the 1st to the 4th september 2016.
Fires Ancient
presented fire on the dome of St Paul's in waves of colour consistent with flame of increasing temperatures (from dull orange to yellow to blue to brilliant white).
The flames were also intended to be suggestive of both antiquity and the rich brocades associated with ecclesiastical tradition.
Flames engulfed the South and East faces of the dome in a 180 degree projection created from three different projection points.
The work aimed to create a visual 'echo' of the fire that destroyed the previous cathedral building and produced the conditions for Wren's masterpiece to rise from the ashes.
Fires Ancient
referred both the beauty and the destructive power of fire, and the creative potential released by trauma; without the Great Fire of London, there would be no modern London and as we understand it, and Wren's exceptional cathedral building would not exist.