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14/9/2004

Michael Dan Archer

Dunston Pillar, Dunston

As part of the Beacon Art project in Lincolnshire, Michael Dan Archer will be erecting a large flashing neon X, 60 feet above the ground on the historic Dunston Pillar on the A15 between Lincoln and Sleaford. Near to the Waddington Airbase.

This feat will be achieved in a highly spectacular way next Wednesday, September 15th with the aid of a high reach platform supplied by Genie UK Ltd.

The process of setting up the installation will take place through the day. Visitors, the press and photographers are welcome.

The Dunston Pillar was built in 1751 by Sir Francis Dashwood as a philanthropic gesture, its purpose to guide travellers across the bleak heathlands from Boston to Lincoln. Originally it stood 90ft high and had a large beacon on top, in 1810 this was replaced by a statue of George 111. In 1914 the pillar was reduced in height as it was considered a danger to aircraft from the nearby Waddington airbase.

A strange juxtaposition to this philanthropic gesture was the other side of Dashwood’s character; he was a member of the notorious Hellfire Club, wild young men, including the Prince Regent, who held wild ‘parties’ and dabbled in black magic.

The proposition for the Pillar project is to mount a neon X at the top of the pillar, to recreate its character as a beacon. The X is a recurring motif in my work and often indicates a notion of ‘here’ as on a map.

The other component of the work is to fill the empty vertical space of the interior of the pillar with a sound installation indicating the secret side of Dashwood and his saturnalias, some of which possibly took place in the pillar. This will be a recreation of a wild party, laughter, screams, smashing glasses and chaos.

Dunston Pillar
on the A15 between Lincoln and Sleaford
Dunston, U.K.

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