London Challenges NYC to Dance-Off ... Via Telescope?

By Julie PH Last edited 190 months ago
London Challenges NYC to Dance-Off ... Via Telescope?
Londonist_dance_moves.jpgA preview of Londonist’s dance moves?

A secret tunnel runs deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean. In May 2008, more than a century after it was begun, the tunnel will finally be completed. Immediately afterwards, an extraordinary optical device called a Telectroscope will be installed at both ends which will miraculously allow people to see right through the Earth from London to New York and vice versa.

Ding ding ding ding ding – that’s Londonist’s bullshitter alert going wild. Miraculously? Hmmm. We parse fact from fiction so you don’t have to.

Starting tomorrow, London and New York will indeed be connected by the mysterious Telectroscope. Visitors to the Southbank, near Tower Bridge, and at Fulton’s Ferry Landing, near the Brooklyn Bridge, will be able to peer into this massive “giant’s telescope” and see, in real time, visitors on the opposite side of the Atlantic staring back at them (Awk-ward).

Although its creator, London artist Paul St George, and sponsor, the same folks who brought you the Sultan’s Elephant back in 2006, spin a nice yarn about St George’s great-grandfather, an eccentric engineer who devised the idea during the Victoria era, we’re not fooled: the Telectroscope is the public art equivalent of a webcam. Regardless, our curiosity is piqued. Will the Telectroscope advance Anglo-American relations? Will, as its promoters hope, there be placard marriage proposals? Dance-offs? Oh, we do so hope for dance-offs.

We’ll even put our money where our mouth is: Thus do we hereby challenge our Gothamist compatriots to a Telectroscopic dance-off. Come on, Gothamist, you think you got the moves?

A little video preview of the Telectroscope drill-bit, having just “magically” emerged from the Southbank, below.

The Telectroscope opens tomorrow and runs round the clock through 15 June. Fast tracking to the front of the queue is available for marriage proposals, business meetings (seriously?) and other worthwhile gimmicks (details here). The Telectroscope is free in New York but will cost Londoners £1. Grumble.

Southbank Elvis dancers courtesy of buckaroo kid’s photostream via the Londonist Flickr pool

Last Updated 21 May 2008