SOME 15,000 people watched in awe as a 75ft-high wooden temple was torched in Derry over the weekend.
Sparks flew and cheers were heard as the vast structure burst into flames before collapsing to the ground in a spectacle designed to send a message of peace to communities on both sides of the city’s political divide.
The event was the culmination of the Temple art project by David Best – the artist behind the structures which are ritualistically destroyed at the annual Burning Man festival in the Nevada Desert.
The Derry temple was ceremonially burned to the ground on Saturday, March 21 (Photo Matthew Andrews)Co-ordinated by the London-based Artichoke creative events organisation, who previously worked on a Derry City of Culture arts project in the city in 2012, the unique project hoped to offer a “new take” on the bonfire traditions associated with the region’s troubled past.
“We always works to subvert territorial divisions, to encourage audiences to look anew at familiar landscapes and to create the context for an artist to reveal a kind of new world we’d like to live in,” Artichoke Director Helen Marriage told The Irish Post.
“Ever since we began working in Derry-Londonderry in 2012, I have been interested in how our work might begin to undermine some of the long-held fears and anxieties prevalent in the city,” she added.
“David Best’s work was always part of my thinking and I’m really pleased that we’ve been able to return to build on the legacy of 2012. Temple offers a new take on the bonfire tradition, creating a shared space that welcomes everyone.”
Two years of planning and six weeks of building - which involved hundreds of Derry volunteers – came to a climax over the weekend when the impressive temple was ceremonially burned to the ground.
For a week before the burn more than 60,000 people from all walks of life visited the structure, writing personal messages on its walls and pillars, filling the interior with pictures of loved ones and symbols of peace, or simply taking time to sit and contemplate, Artichoke confirmed this week.
“For many local visitors, it was the first time they had set foot on this site, in an area known as Top of the Hill in Waterside, which is visible from the city centre,” an Artichoke spokesperson said.
They added: “Temple was also in the sightline of the two city cathedrals across the River Foyle.”
On Saturday, March 21 the radical Temple project, which was supported by an Arts Council of Northern Ireland grant. among other donations, was closed to the public.
At 8pm that evening eight local residents - who were all involved in the project in some way - lit the fire that was the grand finale.
“We are honoured to have built this temple with the Derry-Londonderry community,” David Best said after the event.
“The temple was for everyone to use as they wanted, for healing, celebration and commemoration,” the Californian-born and based artist added.
“It has been a very special and unforgettable experience for me and my crew.”
Artist David Best with the completed Temple structure, which took six weeks to build, before it was torched over the weekend (Photo Brian Morrison)