I TURNED THE CORNER OUT OF LEICESTER SQUARE TO SEE ST. MARTIN IN THE FIELDS LIT UP LIKE A PSYCHEDELIC OASIS IN THE DARK FEBRUARY SKY

By Sophie Clark | Muck Rack Portfolio ⭐⭐⭐ | Press Invite

The SPACE installation by Luxmuralis — the light and sound artistic collaboration between sculptor Peter Walker, and composer David Harper — outside and inside of the 18th century church is a welcome inclusion to the Central London landscape, especially in a season when the bright lights of the Christmas markets have been stored away for another year. 

The exhibit starts in St. Martin’s famous crypt, where it briefly informs attendees on Apollo 11 before ushering people through to the main vaulted brick ceilings of the crypt, where people are encouraged to take in the projected constellations while listening to meditative music. 

There isn’t much to the crypt section other than the main room. I thought there would be more to explore, so I didn’t spend much time there. If I were to go back, I’d spend more time taking in the music and the projections before going upstairs to the 15-minute projection show in the church hall. 

Inside of the main church hall, I was impressed by how the installation created the exact sense of awe that you’d expect in a church. A holy building was a great site for an exhibit like this, in that it achieved the same goal of making the viewer feel amazed by the vast scope of the universe. I really enjoyed sitting back and taking in the universe being projected all around me. 

As much as I did enjoy my time, I noticed that the queue was extraordinarily long to get in, and that the exhibit itself did feel a little bare-bones at times. The crypt section had the potential to be very calming and serene; however, I found it difficult to really take my time there because I knew how many people were waiting to get in.

Additionally, the artwork advertises itself as telling the story of human exploration, but I would not recommend going if you think it will be educational. There is a small snippet of space-exploration history at the very start, but most of the show is made up of projections of the galaxy and additional artwork. 

Lastly, I was quite put off by the number of phones being used to take photos within the church hall. 

The projections were very beautiful, and I can understand why people wanted to capture them, but if the point of the exhibit is to feel the majesty of the universe, then it’s hard to do that when someone’s iPhone is glaring in your face. I’m not sure what Luxmuralis can do about this, as I get how people sharing the exhibit is good for marketing, but perhaps there can be some sort of phone rule just to ensure that everyone is able to experience the exhibit in the way it’s intended. 

That all said, if Luxmuralis’ aim is, as it says on their website, to create the stained glass of our time, then I do believe they’ve achieved that. The artwork was very beautiful. My advice would be to book for a quiet night so you can take it all in.

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