click to enlarge image by Mark Glean
Aluna's team have been working together with the Deputy Mayor of London Nicky Gavron's Office to garner support and funding for the development of Aluna at a site on the River Thames in East London. Plans have just reached a new phase with development funds being granted to the project by the Mayor of London, London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC) and Renewable Energy Systems / Sir Robert McAlpine Group. Click here to read February's press statement released by LTGDC and see below for further information about our plans.
London Sponsors
Aluna has captured the imagination of the public, and we are now looking for people in business or philanthropy with the vision and finances to join Renewable Energy Systems / Sir Robert McAlpine Group and take the project through its development stages.
Hailed as the modern day Stonehenge, Aluna presents a unique opportunity to be involved in one of the largest and most ambitious public arts project ever undertaken. If you are that person or organisation and are interested in sponsoring Aluna, please visit our Sponsors page, download the Sponsorship overview or contact Jason Hollingsworth, sponsorship@alunatime.org.
Register Your Support
If you would like to receive newsletters please join our mailing list by filling in this form, and register your support for Aluna in London. We welcome your comments, and would love to hear why you would like to see Aluna built in the ‘home of time’. If you would like to contact us direct, email team@alunatime.org.
Make a Donation
Aluna urgently needs your support to keep its momentum here in London. Individuals can donate via PayPal by visiting our Friends page. Your contributions are hugely appreciated and you will be acknowledged on the Friends page.
London Site
Initial discussions have been held with the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority about the possibility of leasing land at East India Dock Basin London E14. Situating the Moon Clock, which will be a major visitor attraction, in the most culturally diverse borough of London and at a site of such historic maritime significance will resonate with the project's aims, and provide a 21st century symbol for the regeneration of East London and the Thames Gateway. Aluna will be a non-denominational public space where London can celebrate its unity and diversity, and its past, present and future, all in close proximity to the Meridian.
An educational and cultural visitor centre is being developed alongside the project and Aluna's vision is to generate enough tidal energy not only for itself, but also for its visitor centre and nearby homes. This would make Aluna the first arts project of its kind in the world - generating its revenue by producing renewable energy from the moon to keep lights on in London! To further Aluna's message for environmentally sustainable communities, the project will initiate community involvement with surrounding homes, schools and businesses recycling their glass to build the landmark.
Tower Hamlets give their support
Leading London politicians Councillor Denise Jones and Jim Fitzpatrick MP are enthusiastic about Aluna's potential realisation in their East London constituencies:
Denise Jones, Council Leader, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, said: "The Aluna project is a unique imaginative and educational arts installation that will be of interest to all communities in Tower Hamlets."
Jim Fitzpatrick MP - Poplar & Canning Town London said: "Aluna is the perfect landmark to represent London and the nation in 2012 because it unites people on a global and local level. It will provide a shared public space for the people of East London, and act as a beautiful reminder of our maritime history. By using glass recycled by Londoners Aluna will be both a product of, and a long-term legacy for, local communities."
Tower Hamlets E14 or Greenwich SE10 to host Aluna for 2012?
Greenwich Council are now competing with Tower Hamlets to host the project on their side of the river. Council officers are researching a number of locations in close proximity to the Meridian. Councillor Chris Roberts, Leader of Greenwich Council says: "Greenwich Council is pleased to endorse the Aluna project. This sculpture project is clearly a major public art initiative and could become a high status iconic statement for London as well as a major physical representation of the legacy for the 2012 Olympic Games.
I am particularly keen to attract this public art piece to Greenwich as I believe that, with the Royal Greenwich Observatory and Greenwich Mean Time, this borough is the natural home of time and therefore this sculpture would be a great symbolic representation of this. Also, Aluna would become a major iconic symbol and visitor attraction as well as provide a regeneration stimulus for our residents.
The design of Aluna is at the same time both monumental in scale and yet refined and sophisticated in its shape. As the Leader of an Olympic host borough, I also feel that the shape of the rings of Aluna seem to shadow the rings of the Olympic rings symbol whilst providing a natural amphitheatre in the middle of the structure. Some of our leading cultural institutions have already expressed an interest in animating the internal space of Aluna and the natural and constructed riverside walks of the Greenwich bankside could offer visitors an unbroken route to Aluna."
London Endorsers
Aluna has received the backing of major arts, science and regeneration figures in London including the Deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron, the Artistic Director of the South Bank Jude Kelly , the architect and planner Sir Terry Farrell, Director of London Sustainability Exchange Samantha Heath and the President of the Royal Society Lord Martin Rees. Aluna is also being backed by Docklands Light Railway, which would be the main overland public transport to the site. Click here to read London's endorsements.
Aluna in The London Press
Aluna was featured in The London Paper on Thursday 26th October. For those of you who did not see it, click here to read the full page article. Other recent London press includes
articles by the Waltham Forest Guardian and The Wharf papers.
London, says Francis Crossley, is "Luan-dun", Celtic for "City of the Moon", and tradition says there was once a temple of Diana (the Moon) where St. Paul's now stands. Greenwich he derives from "Grian-wich", Celtic for "City of the Sun". (Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 1898)
