Lullaby Factory
I’ve had to seriously consider whether to feature this on this blog, because (a) I couldn’t get any pictures of my own when I saw it, and (b) it’s location really isn’t suited to hordes of casual visitors. However, I thought it might be worth drawing just a little attention to something that was supposed to bring joy and wonder, but has sadly been seemingly all but forgotten.
The Lullaby Factory of Great Ormond Street Hospital was installed in 2012, in a small courtyard created by the construction of a new building next to one of the older hospital wings. The view from the windows looked out onto a mess of pipes and ducts, but instead of covering these up, the artists from Studio Weave proposed to adorn them with further pipes and horns, creating a place where lullabies are made for the young patients. A large black duct was even decorated to resemble a clarinet or oboe. In the courtyard below, a set of trumpets were positioned so that the music could be heard if an ear was placed to them; for those children unable to leave their beds, the Lullaby Factory’s music was also played over the hospital radio.
In the years since the installation of the Lullaby Factory, the courtyard was converted into an outdoor space for the adjoining restaurant, and netting placed over the space (presumably to deter pigeons); sadly, this obscures much of the view of the artwork. Even more disheartening is that the music is no longer played through the trumpets (apart from, apparently, when important people visit). On my visit, the courtyard was shut, and hadn’t looked to have been open for some time, despite it being in the middle of summer. It looks as though the Lullaby Factory has slowly been forgotten – the cynic in me feels this may be deliberate, as the older wing is scheduled for demolition in a few years’ time, so maybe the hope is by silencing it now, there won’t be much protest when the artwork is eventually dismantled.
[All photos in this post are from Studio Weave]
