Iri-Descent

For this years London Design Festival, Liz West has been commissioned to create a new work in collaboration with Fortnum & Mason. Iri-Descent is an ambitious work made from a vast arrangement of delicate suspended cubes covered in colour transmitting dichroic film. The work is being exhibited in the main atrium of the historic Fortnum & Mason store in Piccadilly, London from the 12th September until 25 October 2019. Iri-Descent consists of 150 skeleton-framework cubes that descend through the space clad with highly reflective and luminous dichroic film in two differing colour-ways which mirrors and sheds light on its surrounds. The cubes appear to change colour as visitors move around the atrium and between the floors. There are two colour variations which systematically alternate throughout – warm and cool – offering a diverse range of hues. The choice of material embodies West's interest in the relationship between colour and light and their ability to enhance the viewers perception of the work. Iri-Descent forms part of an ongoing series of spatial light works based upon research into colour theory and light fields with an ambition to transform architectural spaces and public environments. West works across a variety of media, mixing luminous colour and radiant light in a provocation of sensory reactions. With Iri-Descent, she wants to encourage visitors to engage with the space in a new way, and to examine their own personal relationship to colour and light.