Upon arriving at the launch of Lucy and Jorge Orta’s Cloud: Meteoros, we were met with friendly faces and tall glasses of bubbles. There was a wonderful social atmosphere in the area just in front of the St Pancreas Grand Champagne Bar, where family of the Orta’s and fellow reviews met. Running the show was the team from Blue Rubicon, who made it a wonderful experience from start to finish.
The piece itself went up overnight, so some commuters from France had already had the honour of seeing it hang in the arch above the Grand Terrace. HS1 Ltd commissioned the piece after having held a competition to decide what would go in the space left by the Olympic rings. The couple who won looked to the space as the kick-off point for the the piece’s inspiration. At the time of hearing that they could be involved Lucy and Jorge Orta were working on something that involved clouds, there were various moulds and shape experiments of clouds around the studio and the thought of a meeting place on a cloud came. It was wonderful to speak to Lucy, as she is such a down to earth woman. The piece is very near to them, and the models used for the piece are all really people two of which happen to be their children.
Upon my first glimpse of the art, I thought it looked small in the expanse of the arch, but coming in at a 15mx3mx3m it is not a miniscule figurine in any way. It was a mildly sunny day, but there where gorgeous white puffy clouds against the blue sky. These could be seen through the glass arch opposite the Meteoros like it was a reflection of the sky outside. Meteoros does draw the eye up, and this was the intention of the installation to help travellers behold the beautiful architecture of the station. They wanted Meteoros to do what ceiling frescoes did many centuries ago, something beautiful to draw our attention as we head on our way.
Travelling in from the Orta’s studio in Les Moulins, Paris regularly, as she is a Professor here in London, Lucy will be beholding their art when she pops over on the Eurostar. I think it is poetic that she is a commuter and now her piece is there to be shared with millions of others on the same journey as her. Pop down to the St Pancreas station to catch a glance of the Meteoros.
