The City of London put on a reimaginging of the historic Bartholomew Fair this year, and it is taking place over a couple of weeks in early September for the first time since 1855. The fair dates back to the 12th century, although it was very different then than this new reimagining. The fair had a history of over 700 years and was a major event in London's calendar in the past. The 2023 Bartholomew Fair features art installations, performances, dancing, light projections, and cultural events.
I did not get to visit most of the events due to other committments, but I did visit the light projections this evening. The light projections were installed around six different buildings in the City of London from Chancery Lane to Aldgate. I walked between them, and each clip was up to six minutes long. The schedule mentioned that visitors would not need to see them in order, but I thought that they should because the videos are sequenced and follow a story. Each were a short few-minute video featuring a young girl who gets transported back into time to meet some of London's famous residents.
The story started off with a street magician who chants a spell and sends the little girl back into time. This was located in a room with the mannequin taking on facial features from a projection. The little girl is sent back into time and then returns a few seconds later with some items that she gathered from the residents she met. Magicians would have been commonplace at the original Bartholomew's Fair.
One of the projections mentioned Francis Barber, who was a Jamaican servant in the later 1700s, and he inherited a small fortune and books after his employer died. Barber went on to edit the dictionary. The projection shows different letters that fly around and create words.
The second projection was about the Suffragettes movement to give women the right to vote in the early 1900s. The young girl meets some of the women in the movement.
The third projection featured playright William Shakespeare and some of his prose.
The fourth was Mary Frith, a notorious pickpocket and part of the underworld in crime in London in the later 1500s and early 1600s.
The final projection featured Isaac Newton and celebrated other scientists.
Overall, the projections were entertaining and educational.
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