ART WORLD ILLUMINATI: BRUCE MUNRO
BY: GEORGE WAYNE
Bruce Munro was born in 1959, in London, and is world-renowned for producing large, immersive, light-based installations which often employ an incredible logistical thought process—not to mention acres of fibre-optic wiring and lighting—to create spellbinding works.
The recurring theme of a Bruce Munro mega-installation is light employed on an environmental scale to astound its audience. With commissions from the likes of Lord Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild and the Victoria and Albert Museum as well as Australia’s Uluru Northern Territory, the Field of Light concept has catapulted Bruce Munro’s career into the stratosphere. His astonishing installations have transformed the idea of shared art experiences across the globe.
Owing to a gracious commission from the Soloviev Foundation, it’s finally New York City’s turn! Field of Light at Freedom Plaza made its debut mere weeks ago and has already become Manhattan’s latest meditative mecca. Installed on one of the last stretches of undeveloped land in Manhattan—virtually next door to the United Nations—through January 2025, Field of Light at Freedom Plaza seems primed to become a beloved symbol of hope and optimism in the city for the next 12 months.
Bruce Munro’s Field of Light was conceived in 1992 on a visit to Central Australia. The cinematic sweep of that first installation in the bush became emblematic of his future evocative light show spectacles. This newest manifestation, set along the East River waterfront at 41st Street, with Tudor City and the Manhattan skyline as the backdrop (@fieldoflightnyc), may well become one of the city’s most embraced public arts projects in history. Munro is reportedly sustained by an obstinate yet fundamental spirit of optimism and it’s clear that this particular project could not be more timely for a world in which fear and pessimism lurk around every corner. Let’s regale The Illuminati.
GEORGE WAYNE – Field of Light at Freedom Plaza seems destined to become a beacon of hope and optimism. When did the enormous promise for this project first dawn on you?
BRUCE MUNRO — When I visited Uluru in 1992, the experience gave me a new perspective on life. It was not a eureka moment but a subtle, joyful awakening experience. The first installation took ten years to realize from that initial visit. But I realized then that I yearned to create art about connectivity and shared experiences. I had found my subject matter. For me, art is a language of communication when fulfilled with integrity and passion, heart and spirit.
GW – Can you recall the moment you conceptualized what this latest light project would look like?
BM — Installations that one repeats become iterations, and not all installations have more than one showing. Field of Light was always intended to travel to other places. That was the instinctive notion before I had even created one! The installation is changed by the landscapes it inhabits as much as it changes the landscapes. Amazingly, the good spirit of the artwork prevails wherever it goes. And it does make people smile. For me, that’s a fantastic result. Freedom Plaza is a special location because it’s so urban. Three sides of the installation are flanked by monolithic architecture; on the fourth are the Hudson River’s swirling waters. Its surroundings dwarf it, but I am hopeful it will shine brightly as a small beacon of hope. My instinct is that this iteration is a city-sized window box of light.
GW — One of your esteemed patrons, Lord Rothschild, said: “His study of light with such great curiosity is what has fascinated me.” How would you define your particular fascination with light and how it began?
BM – Light became my language of choice by chance because I was told in my early twenties that I had too many ideas. However, when I thought about it I realized that light had caught my attention long before I formally employed it to create art.
GW — Will this Field of Light be comparable to your Field of Light at Eden Project, staged in Cornwall, UK in 2008-2009?
BM – The Field of Light at Freedom Plaza has its own unpredictable identity.
GW — What are the most unique new components that make this Field of Light like none before it?
BM – The Field of Light is always inspired in form as a direct response to the place it inhabits. I take it as a given that every moment of our existence is unique and therefore will fascinate.
GW – Tell us about the project’s nod to sustainability and TerraCycling?
BM – All elements are always carefully repurposed/recycled when they come to the end of their life. The power requirement is minimal, equivalent to an average family home for five hours a day.
GW — And what do you hope will be the legacy after the installation is dismantled in a year?
BM – When my father died I realized that I just need to take small positive steps to make a difference and that making someone smile is a good start.
GW — What was it like working along the Tropic of Capricorn in the Australian bush in 1992?
BM – Amazing! The Australian outback is like nowhere else I have been. You are thousands of miles from any coastline, yet 500 billion years ago the continent was under the sea. Geological time makes one appreciate that human life is just blink and one needs to live it with great respect, care and love.
GW – Rank this newest commission compared to your many others. What will make Field of Light at Freedom Plaza like nothing ever staged in New York City?
BM – If the Field of Light raises a collective smile among the New Yorkers who visit, then that will be its uniqueness and legacy.
GW — Was the first appearance of The Field of Light concept in London in 2004 at the Victoria and Albert Museum?
BM – No. It was in Harvey Nichols’ windows in Knightsbridge. An exhibition curator from the V&A spotted it and it migrated across the road several months later. It was serendipity.
GW — Eden Blooms is GW’s absolute favorite light installation.
BM – Eden blooms was in part inspired by reading HG Wells and Jules Verne as a youngster. Also, my fascination in designing manufactured widgets to mimic organic forms.
GW — Your snowball chandeliers are so amazing! If GW were Jeff Bezos’s wedding planner, a lighting commission for that grand wedding would be one of my first demands on the table. Have you ever created a spectacle for a billion-dollar wedding?
BM — In 2006 I created twenty-six snowball chandeliers for a wedding on Treasure Island, San Francisco. I have always loved a challenge.
GW – With pessimism lurking around every corner, it seems, one can only hope that this Bruce Munro work of artistic diligence will offer relief to New York City and the world.
BM – The Field of light is just a small step towards the light. It is my touchstone. I had good teachers—my mum, dad and stepfather—hopefully they will all be smiling !
GW – There you have it, good people: GW x The Illuminati.
