'Beacon is an exciting new art project that can be experienced as a coach excursion around a variety of heritage sites and and other venues in Lincoln and its surrounding rural area.

Beacon consists of a series of static and temporal interventions by seven artists: Michael Dan Archer, Gillian Dyson, Kelly Jackson, Wayne Lloyd, John Plowman, Bob and Roberta Smith and Jessica Voorsanger.

One site, Dunston Pillar, is all that remains of a 18th century land lighthouse on top of which a beacon burnt every night guiding travellers through the Lincolnshire landscape, as such, this becomes a focal point and metaphor for the project.'

The Dunston Pillar was built in 1751 by Sir Francis Dashwood as a philanthropic gesture, its purpose to guide travellers across the bleak heath lands from Boston to Lincoln. A strange juxtaposition to this philanthropic gesture was the other side of Dashwood's character as a member of the notorious Hellfire Club, wild young men, including the Prince Regent, who held wild 'parties' and dabbled in black magic.

For the pillar project Archer mounted a large flashing neon X at the top of the pillar, to recreate its character as a beacon. This neon work in phased red and blue light could be seen from many miles away across the Lincolnshire heath. The X is a recurring motif in his work and often indicates a notion of 'here' as on a map. He was attracted to the pillar as it has strong formal links with his obelisk and stele sculptures. Over recent years Archer has been combining light with these architecturally influenced stone works. Here for the first time it is combined with actual architecture

The other component of the work was to fill the empty vertical space of the interior of the pillar with a sound installation indicating the secret side of Dashwood and his saturnalias. This sound component was initially taken from recordings made late on a Saturday night in the hectic streets and bars of Nottingham city centre. This source material was digitally reworked by his son Louis into a suitably wild and hellish theme to be played in the dark interior of the pillar.

International Sculpture Magazine (ISC) wrote an article on this project to read this (click here) 696KB

For more information: www.beaconartproject.co.uk