Big Public Art Video On London’s Highest-Profile DOOH Display Shows Fighter Jets In DISARM Formation

July 19, 2024 by Dave Haynes

The big Piccadilly Lights digital board in central London is running a video piece by UK artist Fiona Banner (apparently also known as the Vanity Press) meant as a reminder that there is more global conflict happening right now than at any time since the end of the Second World War.

The long-form video developed by the London creative technology studio Visualise riffs on the use of military jets for fly-pasts at big public and sporting events, but in this case the signature moment is a formation of planes flying past and spelling out the word DISARM.

Our latest project from Visualise AR & VR is now live in Piccadilly Circus, every night!! Head down to Piccadilly Lights, until the 31st August and check out the incredible installation from Fiona Banner AKA the Vanity Press and CIRCA.art.
Capturing the contradictory phenomena of military flypasts – “a raw moment of extreme weather,” DISARM transforms a jingoistic display of military might into a call for global disarmament. As jets emerge from an immense sky to spell out the word “DISARM”, international audiences are confronted by a fleeting moment where our language meets its limits. “The aircraft in the flypast are named after forces of nature, Typhoon, Leopard and Lightning… so it speaks of our assault on the planet and each other.” At a moment of heightened tension, with more global conflict now than at any time since World War II, the precarity and contradictions in defence and aggression are writ large. “This is language in action.”

In her words; capturing the contradictory phenomena of military flypasts – “DISARM transforms a jingoistic display of military might into a call for global disarmament. As jets emerge from an immense sky to spell out the word “DISARM”, international audiences are confronted by a fleeting moment where our language meets its limits. “The aircraft in the flypast are named after forces of nature, Typhoon, Leopard and Lightning… so it speaks of our assault on the planet and each other.” At a moment of heightened tension, with more global conflict now than at any time since World War II, the precarity and contradictions in defence and aggression are writ large. “This is language in action.”

Versions of the piece are also live in Tokyo, Seoul, Berlin and Milan.

The video piece is almost five minutes long. I don’t know if at all runs or just the “money” segment with the jets in DISARM formation. Running a long-form spot on a high profile ad board would not be cheap, and if the time is spiffed by the media company, that’s a lot of lost potential revenue. It MAY, I suppose, be using a mandate from the local council that requires some screen time be reserved for public art. Guessing on that, though.