Alex Chinneck Cuts a Building in Half and Floats It

Alex Chinneck couldn’t have named his recent mind-boggling art installation any better. With a title befitting the project, ‘Take my lightning but don’t steal my thunder’ is essentially a faux-building parted in half with the upper half seeming to float up into space. The British artist combines art and architecture in his newest installation located in London’s Covent Garden that finds visitors scratching their heads at the phenomenon. The 40 ft long building is actually made of CNC-cut polystyrene that cantilevers off a green cart attached to the building using over 15 tons of steel framework and 4.5 tons of counterweight. Consulting with architectural specialists, structural engineers, steel fabricators, carpenters, set builders, and even scenic artists who applied the distressed look on the facade, much of the work took 8 months to build off-site and another 4 days to piece together on-site. According to Chinneck, “The idea itself is actually quite simple. I don’t get too bogged down in concept or meaning or message. It is what it is. It’s playful and fun.”