As retail stores fill their windows with Christmas themed displays, six large office windows on the Euston Road have been filled with glowing light displays, each made from a mass of scientific instruments.
Sitting next to Euston Square tube station is the Wellcome Trust, whose public venue, the Collection is one block further down. While the Collection is used to putting on displays, the Trust does as well, in this case, six light installations created from a selection of plastic and glass laboratory equipment commonly used in scientific research and experiments.
The items in this display — Tools of the Trade, by Stuart Haygarth — were chosen for their aesthetic quality, the form taking prominence over their purpose.
Elevating the commonplace or discarded object is a central tenet of Haygarth’s work.
“It is about banal and overlooked objects gaining new significance.” says Haygarth.
It’s a display that works best on both sides of the pavement, up close to see the individual objects, and far away to see the wider collective display.
The exhibition is viewed from the street, and by the look of the official photo below, probably best at night.
(c) Wellcome Trust
The objects used to make the displays are:
- Vial
- Pipette
- Erlenmeyer Flask
- Buchner Funnel
- Round-Bottom Flask
- Fractionating Flask
- Volumetric Flask
- Measuring Cylinder
- NMR Tube
- Calcium Chloride U-Tube
I used to live near here and was always in awe of their window displays. I remember one in particular that was swirling, wallpaper-like patterns made of bugs that spread infectious diseases, syringes, and maybe even blood spatters?
I still try to check out their windows every time I’m in London.