Technology: Plunge, Paternoster Square

Plunge, Paternoster Square
Time Management

Plunge, by Michael Pinsky

"As a child, I grew up near a reservoir in Scotland. On particularly hot summers, when water was in short supply the level of the reservoir would drop revealing the spire of a church, the highest point of a village which was submerged for a secure clean water supply. This image of a submerged bell tower has stayed with me ever since. If we do not prevent the predicted effects of climate change from occurring this will become the prevailing image of London, towers and monuments encircled by an ever-expanding Thames."
Michael Pinsky, 2010

Plunge is a simple, elegant statement placed on three monuments in central London. A string of low energy blue LED lights wrapped around each monument marks a time, 1000 years in the future, when sea level rises have changed the city beyond recognition.

The monuments are ones that are passed every day by hundreds of thousands of people, whether tourists who stop to photograph them, or commuters who walk by every day without seeing them. Plunge offers an opportunity to see them in a new light, to think about their place in our history and their place in the city.

Together, the Plunge monuments create an arc across central London, following the line of a future Thames that has swallowed much of the capital in its wake.

Plunge has been created by Michael Pinsky and produced by Artsadmin and LIFT as part of the Imagine 2020 network programme. Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, the European Culture Programme, Trust Greenbelt, WWF-UK and the Big Give. In partnership with Royal Parks, Seven Dials Trust and Paternoster Square Management Limited.

Paternoster Square Column, all lit up.
The column was designed by Whitfield Partners, as part of the rejuvenation of the site.

Wren's St Paul's Cathedral, possibly the quintessential example of English Baroque.
Built following the Great Fire of London, when the old cathedral was destroyed, the foundation stone was laid in June 1675, the first service held December 1697, 'topped out' October 1708 and officially declared complete 25 December 1711. The 36 years may seem like a long time, but the previous St Paul's had begun in 1136, consecrated 1240, and completed in 1314 (not helped by a change to the design programme halfway through. So in comparison, Wren's design was almost overnight.

Wren (born 1632) live to see his work complete, dying 25 February 1723. He was buried in St Paul's, in the south-east corner of the crypt.
The inscription, reads:
" SUBTUS CONDITUR HUIUS ECCLESIÆ ET VRBIS CONDITOR CHRISTOPHORUS WREN, QUI VIXIT ANNOS ULTRA NONAGINTA, NON SIBI SED BONO PUBLICO. LECTOR SI MONUMENTUM REQUIRIS CIRCUMSPICE Obijt XXV Feb: An°: MDCCXXIII Æt: XCI. "

" Here in its foundations lies the architect of this church and city, Christopher Wren, who lived beyond ninety years, not for his own profit but for the public good. Reader, if you seek his monument - look around you. Died 25 Feb. 1723, age 91"