"Identified Flying Object" Spotted Over King's Cross

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 156 months ago

Last Updated 15 November 2011

"Identified Flying Object" Spotted Over King's Cross
Identified Flying Object; not flying, obviously.
Identified Flying Object; not flying, obviously.
The IFO at night; note the swing.
The IFO at night; note the swing.
Once a month it'll be hauled into the sky by a crane.
Once a month it'll be hauled into the sky by a crane.

First came the art students, now comes the art: specifically, this installation, which will be arriving in newly-redeveloped landsnorth of King's Cross station from the middle of this month.

Called "Identified Flying Object", or IFO, French artist Jacques Rival's Brobdingnagian birdcage will rest on the ground for most of the time, where visitors will be able to slip through the bars and play on a swing. Once a month, it will be lifted by a crane into the night sky, where it should illuminate the local area and further confuse London's long-suffering avian population.

But what's it all about? Standby for art-speak:

Jacques Rival’s response to King’s Cross is both poetic and pertinent... This nomadic sculpture follows the flux and flow of this new district which is evolving day by day.

Those are the words of Michael Pinsky and Stéphanie Delcroix, an Anglo-French curating twosome who are putting together Relay, an arts festival at King's Cross of which the IFO is the first part.

The installation runs from November 16th until mid-2013.