Ron Arad presents collaborative art project, Last Train, in London
The industrial designer and Royal Academician has taken his Last Train project, first seen at last year's Venice Art Biennale, to London
One of the most intriguing exhibitions at last year's Venice Art Biennale, Ron Arad's Last Train project, which saw Arad himself, along with some of the art world's most famous names, create LED-illuminated engravings, has come to London.
Artist: Sara Fanelli
The exhibition, which also features new work previously unseen by the public, is on now at Ron Arad Studio in Camden.
Artist: Grayson Perry
The pieces, which are all for sale at the end of the exhibition run, include new collaborations with Grayson Perry, Antony Gormley, Humphrey Ocean and Mat Collishaw, alongside works that were shown in Venice by Francesco Clemente, Christian Marclay, Robert Wilson, Richard Wilson, Ai Weiwei, David Shrigley, Sara Fanelli, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Gavin Turk, Javier Mariscal, Leandro Erlich, Cornelia Parker and Ron Arad.
Spanish designer and artist Javier Mariscal creates his artwork
Despite being under house arrest in his native China, artist Ai Weiwei was able to create his piece over the internet, using the digital technology of Arad's Last Train apparatus, which enables collaborations with artists anywhere in the world in real time.
The LED-illuminated engravings begin with the participating artist sketching on an iPad. The marks are interpreted in real-time by the Last Train app and sent to a disembodied 'mechanical fist' wearing a Diacore diamond ring, which then scratches the design onto a large pane of glass.
Ron Arad at work
The full exhibition is on show until 25 July, but there's also a satellite of Last Train on show at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, which is on until 17 August.
The single pane on display reveals the moment of the project's inspiration, in which Arad narrowly missed his last train from Naples and saw in a departing window the scratching of a diamond ring on glass, creating mesmerising drawings.
'It reminded me of the images of Picasso drawing with a match in the air,' Arad's engraving reads.
'Although I didn't know how I would get out of Naples that night, I felt like I was compensated ... by witnessing some beauty that no one else had seen before.'
Artist: Richard Wilson
Arad, the industrial designer who made his name with the Rover chair and was Head of Design Products Department at the Royal College of Art from 1997 to 2009 was elected as a Royal Academician in 2013.