Bruce Munro's "Light Shower" at Salisbury Cathedral

Bruce Munro's "Light Shower" at Salisbury Cathedral

December '10 - February '11

Salisbury Cathedral filled with light yesterday, November 29 '10, when Bruce Munro's light installation was switched on to celebrate the start of Advent.

Munro installed ‘Light Shower’ high in the Spire Crossing, where it cascades with 2,000 points of light. Made from optic fibres ending in clear tear-drop shaped diffusers, "Light Shower" creates an ethereal light glowing throughout the cathedral.

Munro’s second piece, Water-Towers, to be installed in the cloisters in early January 2011, will be a maze of huge towers made of stacked recycled water bottles. The towers will be illuminated with fibre optics powered by energy-conserving LED lamps, and will change colour synchronized to choral music. “I hope Water-Towers will make people smile” says Munro. “It’s an exercise in making something positive from unwanted materials.”

David Coulthard, Director of Marketing at Salisbury Cathedral, said “We are really excited to be hosting these two artworks by Bruce Munro over the winter months. Having seen the computer generated images of them in situ, there’s no doubt they have the ‘wow’ factor. Light Shower is simply incredibly beautiful, and out in the cloisters visitors can walk through Water-Towers with their changing colours and sounds. We welcome over 250,000 visitors here each year and know that our programme of high quality and creative visual art installations adds further to the experience of visiting this beautiful, ancient yet living 21st century building.”

Bruce Munro’s work was recently shown at "Contemplating the Void" at the Guggenheim in New York. His acclaimed Field of Light was seen at the Eden Project in 2008/9. “I am deeply honoured to be invited to show at Salisbury Cathedral” says Munro. “It is a truly amazing building, a magnificent example of English Medieval architecture and craftsmanship. One can only guess at the impact this great building struck into the hearts and minds of travellers seeing it for the first time.”

Light Shower by Bruce Munro