Take my lightning but don’t steal my thunder | Alex Chinneck

Commuters and visitors were stopped in their tracks this morning when a section of Covent Garden’s 184-year old Market Building appeared to break free from its foundations and magically float into the air. The new installation - entitled ‘Take my lightning but don’t steal my thunder’ - is the latest mind-bending artwork by innovative British artist Alex Chinneck, and is on display on Covent Garden’s East Piazza until 24thOctober.

‘Take my lightning but don’t steal my thunder’ combines art, architecture and theatre design, blurring familiarity with fantasy to transform an ordinary everyday view of Covent Garden’s Piazza into the extraordinary. Inspired by the performance culture that’s synonymous with the neighbourhood, the 30-year old artist and his team have conjured the illusion that a 40-foot-long building has broken from its stone base and floated over 10 feet into the air with apparent and astonishing weightlessness.

“My objective was to create an accessible artwork that makes a harmonious but breath-taking contribution to its historic surroundings, leaving a lasting and positive impression upon the cultural landscape of Covent Garden and in the minds of its many visitors”, said Alex Chinneck. “The hovering building introduces contemporary art to traditional architecture, performing a magic trick of spectacular scale to present the everyday world in an extraordinary way”.

Beverley Churchill, Creative Director of Capco Covent Garden, said: “Alex and his team have managed to capture the centuries-old Market Building in astonishing detail. It blends in perfectly with its surroundings on the Piazza, so you really do a double-take when you notice the building is floating away. It’s taken thousands of people by surprise this morning and already caused quite a stir online.

Beverley adds, “The Piazza has become a unique, open air canvas for established and emerging artists. It enables them to reach a daily captive audience in the tens of thousands, and Alex’s new work represents our most ambitious commission to date.”