LUKE JERRAM

Please note this interview was first published on the Artist Mentor website during 2020.

Luke’s creative entrepreneurialism enables him to partner with global organisations and collaborators, continuously innovating whilst supporting others, particularly young creatives.

He is renowned globally for his multidisciplinary creative practice, which includes sculptures, installations, live arts and public realm projects. Living in the UK, but working internationally since 1997, he’s devised and staged an extraordinary range of art works that have engaged and inspired people around the world.

His artworks are in permanent collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Welcome Collection in London, and he tours his installations to art festivals and museums. Working with some of the most established cultural organisations to create his artworks, in 2019 alone, he had 117 exhibitions in 22 different countries around the world.

In 2020 was given an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Bristol, made an Honorary Academician of the RWA and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

In 2019 he set up and funded both the Dreamtime Fellowship to support recent graduates in his home city of Bristol and the Bristol Schools Arts Fund to support secondary schools in Bristol impacted by austerity.

Luke Jerram, Museum of the Moon, Photo by Robert Sils

His artwork Museum of the Moon is one of Luke’s most successful arts projects that has caught the public’s imagination, presented in more than 150 times in 30 different countries. Experienced by more than 10 million people worldwide, the artwork has recently toured India with the British Council, been presented at the Commonwealth Games in Australia, Art Basel in Miami 2020 and exhibited in Aarhus, Denmark for the European Capital of Culture. In 2019 it was presented at Glastonbury Festival and even on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in Blackpool. With universal appeal, the exhibit has been breaking audience records in venues around the globe. 2.1 million people visited the artwork when it was presented at the National History Museum, making it one of the most popular exhibits in the institutions history. Published in 2020 his new book Luke Jerram: Art, Science & Play provides a fascinating insight into his evolving practice.

Luke Jerram, Park and Slide, Bristol, May 4, 2014

On the 4th May 2014 this giant 95m (300ft) water slide was installed on Park Street in Bristol as part of Make Sunday Special and the Bristol Art Weekender. Running for one day only, 96,573 people signed up for their chance to get a ‘ticket to slide’ and through a ballot, only 360 lucky people were issued with tickets. Security clocked in 65,000 people who came to Park Street to watch the one-day event.

Luke Jerram, Play Me, I’m Yours, 2010, NYC

Touring internationally since 2008, Play Me, I’m Yours has reached millions of people worldwide, with more than 2000 street pianos installed by Luke and his team in over 65 cities across the globe, from  Tokyo to New York, bearing the simple instruction to ‘Play Me, I’m Yours’. Located on streets, in public parks, markets and train stations the pianos are available for everyone to play and enjoy. Play Me, I’m Yours invites the public to engage with, activate and take ownership of their urban environment, and to share their love of music and the visual arts. Decorated by local artists and community groups, the street pianos create a place for exchange and an opportunity for people to connect. The project was recently presented in Brisbane, Australia and Augsburg, Germany.

Luke Jerram, Sky Orchestra over London, 2011

Sky Orchestra is an experimental artwork bringing together performance and music to create visual audio installations within the air and within the mind. Developing music specifically for sleeping people which is delivered at dawn from out of the sky the artwork is created by artist Luke Jerram in collaboration with composer Dan Jones. Taking off at dawn with speakers attached, the artwork creates a massive audio landscape which plays directly into people’s homes below.

The Sky Orchestra last performed in Bristol 2020, with a new composition commissioned by Bristol Old Vic; the music is available from Bandcamp, raising money to support young musicians in Bristol.

The Sky Orchestra has also performed in Derry, for the UK City of Culture 2013 and in London to herald a year to go to the 2012 Olympic Games. They launched the 2007 Sydney Festival and in 2006 in Stratford-upon- Avon for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

In Greek mythology Helios was the god and personification of the Sun. This new artwork was conceived in the UK’s third national lockdown, in the middle of winter, when we all needed a little warmth and sunshine in our lives.

Based on complex geometry Luke is working with engineers and fabricators to design and create this floating sculpture of the Sun; 10m in diameter and 5m high, the giant floating Sun artwork will be made of steel and moored to the walls of the docks in London. Created as a hemisphere, the lower half of the Sun will be created from the reflection in the water. Glowing gold in the daytime, the artwork will change in the day, as the sun illuminates it, creating reflections. At night the artwork will slowly begin to come alive.

Internally illuminated and emitting mist, the artwork will bathe the docks with warm golden light. It might look like a fireball at night or as though a meteorite has crash landed. A surround sound composition about the Sun will be created which will available as a free download to be listen to through the public’s headphones. Information about the artwork and the music will be available on the dockside. The music will blend NASA sunlight recordings, sun mythologies, sound of fire and heat. Artistic development, CAD designs, structural analysis, costing, prototyping and testing have all been carried out for this new and complex work. Luke is consulting with naval architects, structural engineers, CAD designers, arts fabricators and even sub aqua divers about the creation and installation of the artwork. Phase 1 has been completed and they are now awaiting funding for the fabrication.