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CAMPAIGN FOR BETTER CHRISTMAS LIGHTS:
AN EXHIBITION AT THE MUSEUM OF LONDON
25 November 1997 - 4 January 1998 The RIBA Journal and the Museum of London think that the Christmas lights should reflect London's status as a capital and world class city and have commissioned ten of Britain's best architects to design alternatives to illuminate a stretch of Oxford Street. These designs will be on display at the Museum of London from 25 November 1997 until 4 January 1998 as part of Architecture Week, and visitors to the Museum will be able to vote for the designs which turn them on the most. |
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The architects have come up with some striking ideas. Some have stuck to traditional Christian iconography to remind us that Christmas is not, contrary to popular belief, about sponsorship. Others have used beams and blocks of light to highlight the buildings in Oxford Street and one has recreated a Norwegian wood. |
| Amongst the more high-tech solutions which have studiously avoided traditional Yuletide images is an elegant Mexican wave and a space age Christmas mirror ball. |  |
 | Since the 1950s the great shopping streets of the West End have been decorated with lights at Christmas. During the 50s and 60s there was a series of brilliant and imaginative Christmas lights, but in the 70s concerns about fuel and power resources made them difficult to justify. By the time the Christmas lights of the West End were re-invented in the 80s they were a shadow of the bold and confident designs of before. |
Today we have a crisis of Christmas design. Christmas lights in most British towns and cities are at best half-hearted and cheap and at worst vulgar and tawdry. This year the Regent Street lights have been plunged into controversy. The decorations are felt by many to look cheap and over-commercialised. When we have such advanced technology at our disposal, why are our Christmas lights such a turn-off? | |
