When the artwork of David Best was shown in class, I immediately loved it! Especially his 120-metre-long wooden model of the 17th century historic Old Town of London, which was set alight in the River Thames on 4 September 2016. This project, which he called “London 1666”, was part of Great Fire 350, a city-wide season of cultural events that marked the 350-year-anniversary of the great London fire that destroyed 80 percent of the historic city (Londons Burning Story, 2016). The sculpture was previously built in weeks of work by hundreds of young unemployed and schoolchildren.
Andrews, M. (2016) N/A. Available at: https://publicdelivery.org/london-1666/ (Accessed: 20 October 2019)
Andrews, M. (2016) N/A. Available at: https://publicdelivery.org/london-1666/ (Accessed: 20 October 2019)
It’s amazing how David Best managed to turn a recreation of this horrible raging fire into a magnificent piece of artwork that even had a high impact on social life. Lots of children and young adults were busy in the creation of this sculpture and truly must have felt like a part of something unique. The actual event of burning the model looked impressive in the videos that I found online, I wish I could have seen it in person. It was a brilliant idea to place the sculpture in the middle of the Thames, providing a safe surrounding for the flames and the possibility for the spectators to watch the fire from all sides.
Londons Burning Story (2016) Available at: https://www.artichoke.uk.com/project/londons-burning/story/ (Accessed: 05 October 2019).
header photo: Andrews, M. (2016) N/A. Available at: https://publicdelivery.org/london-1666/ (Accessed: 20 October 2019)
Documentation of MEDI512 "Experiment" 