Man who lit up the Marble Arch Mound brings 200,000 to London

THE man whose art show helped boost the Marble Arch Mound says public art can do the same for Oxford Street.

Mark Dale, creative director of W1 Curates, brought in artist Anthony James to install a light sculpture show beneath the much-mocked hill at the end of Oxford Street and helped create an unlikely tourist attraction in the process with 200,000 people expected to have visited by the end of this week.

He said he expects around 280,000 visitors by the time it closes in January — figures which would put it in the top 50 visitor attractions in the country on the latest numbers alongside institutions such as the Imperial War Museum and Edinburgh Castle. Dale, who transformed fashion store Flannels into an outdoor art gallery using huge digital screens on the outside of the building, is taking over the shop’s basement in March to transform it into a 4,000-sq-ft digital gallery.

He said: “I think there has been a boom in public art since the pandemic.

People started thinking outside the box about how to show art when exhibitions were closed down and people responded because they could come to see work for free outside of the house.

“We are big believers in public art and that art should be for everyone and not just in galleries.”

He said the Flannels site, which is a short walk from Soho, is the “right place at the right time”. He added: “I’m in central London every day and there is a lot of footfall coming back. I really believe that public art is a strong pull for people coming in.

“We work with a diverse group of people from established galleries to newcomers fresh out of art school and that attracts a diverse crowd. We get 80-year-old ladies coming in to see David Bailey or the St Martins graduates wanting to see up and coming names.”

A spokesman for Westminster Council said: “Hitting 200,000 visitors is a significant milestone. The Mound is doing what it was built to do — bring people back to Oxford Street.”