Blenheim Palace is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. The national monument, one of England’s largest country houses, was built between 1705 and 1722 in the rare, and short-lived, English Baroque style. Blenheim Palace is notable as the birthplace and ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
The Charity Gala
Charles James Spencer-Churchill, 12th Duke of Marlborough gathered the great and the good at Blenheim Palace to raise money for the Starlight Children’s Foundation, which uses the power of play to help ill children and their families to cope better with their situations. Guests at the glamorous gala included the duke’s son and heir, the Marquess of Blandford and his wife, the Marchioness, chocolate heiress Jemima Cadbury and her fiancé David Tollemache, singer James Blunt, Jeremy Clarkson and model Jodie Kidd. The evening began with a champagne reception, a three-course dinner in the Long Library, followed by an auction, hosted by Sotheby’s UK chairperson, Lord Dalmeny. The final amount raised on the evening was 1.4 million pounds.
Light Drawings by Hugo Dalton
Hugo Dalton’s works find their origins in drawing from life. Working with pencil on paper he looks to capture the energy in any given situation allowing it to take on new life. He seeks to anchor and find visual form for the intangible. Dalton’s works on paper have evolved into large scale light drawings, projected with analogue projection systems, both indoors and outdoors. Giant floral outline drawings meet representative, exuberant baroque architecture, setting up an impressive stage for that special evening. In the large hall, elaborated light drawings were complemented with moving clouds and starry skies casted by digital projectors on the baroque ceiling.
The analogue projection hardware included eleven PHOS 85 indoor systems and two PHOS 85 outdoor systems from German projection specialist Derksen Lichttechnik.
