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

Master of illusions Alex Chinneck’s latest mind-boggling public art installation is on show in what must surely be the spiritual home of his craft; one of the busiest piazzas in London and its theatrical hub. His floating building follows on from a sliding house, upside down house and many other puzzling optical illusions. Called Take my lightning but don’t steal my thunder, Alex says: “The titles are born from a kind of daydreaming. Everything we do now is extremely planned and co-ordinated. And I don’t feel like an artist anymore. A title is a rare opportunity to do something which feels slightly bohemian!”

As for the thinking behind Take my lightning but don’t steal my thunder, Alex muses that “there are things which always come together but are always slightly apart.” In terms of the building itself, “the shape of the crack was reminiscent of the lightning bolt. It’s a very cataclysmic scene.”