Art
A kinetic sculpture (Circle of Light, 1980) by Liliane Lijn hangs from the ceiling of Midsummer Arcade. The mechanism has not operated for many years. It was originally floodlit at night and is on the axis of the midsummer sun on which Midsummer Boulevard is accurately orientated.
Silbury Arcade contains three bronze figures (Dream Flight, Flying Carpet and High Flyer, 1989) by Philomena Davidson Davis, former president of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. Nearby, in Deer Walk, a mosaic pavement (c. AD 320) from Bancroft Roman Villa is on display. These works were previously sited in Queen's Court.
Before being redeveloped, Queen's Court also contained:
- a sundial and associated bollards (Bollards, 1979) by Tim Minett
Oak Court contains:
- a stainless steel sculpture (Acorns and Leaves, 2000) by Tim Ward
- the Concrete Cows (1978) by Liz Leyh
The Midsummer Place building contains:
- a bronze seat (Sitting on History, 1996) by Bill Woodrow
- a stained-glass window (2000) by Anne Smyth
- an animated clock with a frog that blows bubbles (2000), conceived by Kit Williams, and similar to the clock at Telford Shopping Centre.
In 1981, the building and its surrounding vicinity were used for the filming of the music video Wired for Sound by Cliff Richard. Filming took place at the eastern end of Midsummer Arcade (the distinctive tiling outside the John Lewis department being clearly visible), outside Norfolk House and in nearby underpasses. The building was also used as a location for still photography on the first self-titled album by Duran Duran.
Read more about this topic: Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre
Famous quotes containing the word art:
“All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“The motion picture made in Hollywood, if it is to create art at all, must do so within such strangling limitations of subject and treatment that it is a blind wonder it ever achieves any distinction beyond the purely mechanical slickness of a glass and chromium bathroom.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“Art is on the side of the oppressed. Think before you shudder at the simplistic dictum and its heretical definition of the freedom of art. For if art is freedom of the spirit, how can it exist within the oppressors?”
—Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923)