MANCHESTER.- When The Met opens its doors in December 2016, following a £4.6 million refurbishment, at the centre of the historical building will be a newly commissioned art installation by internationally renowned artist, Liz West. The installation, Sevenfold, will mark the completion of this project to transform one of the North’s leading cultural live music, theatre and arts venues located in the heart of Bury.

The site-responsive piece will inject vibrant colours and a sense of illusion into the magnificent entrance and staircase of the Victorian neo-classical building. Light is very important to Liz’s work, and this is a space that is flooded with natural light, which Sevenfold will draw upon to highlight the architecture and magnificence of The Met’s 1840s architecture.

Sevenfold takes its reference from Newton’s rainbow sequence of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Seven (six prisms in the main installation plus one mini above the reception desk) individual and vast prisms have been created that use mirrors to further radiate colour and reflect elements of the beautifully restored architecture. As visitors ascend the staircase they find themselves at eye level with the artwork, giving the chance to marvel Sevenfold at its luminous best.

David Agnew, artistic director of The Met, says, “We wanted to celebrate the light and sense of rejuvenation that the restoration of this stunning building has opened up and embraced. The vision of this project is to use the past to illuminate the future, which Liz’s piece perfectly embodies. As people enter the building they’ll be able to enjoy the visual spectacle of Sevenfold as it radiates against the vastness and intricacy of the Victorian plasterwork.”

Liz West says, “I am delighted to be given this opportunity to make my first permanent installation, it is an honour to be asked to make a new work in such an magnificent and multi-purpose setting. The light-based, theatrical and immersive nature of my work ties in perfectly with The Met and the buildings use. I hope that visitors enjoy my work for many years to come and are able to see new elements within the installation every time they look at the piece.”

Liz lives and works in Manchester, having studied at Glasgow School of Art. Her commissions and residencies have included: Bristol Biennial; Natural History Museum, London; Castlefield Gallery New Art Spaces, Manchester; Royal British Society of Sculptors, London; National Media Museum, Bradford. In 2016 Liz was shortlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize and the Lighting Design Awards.

The refurbishment project has allowed a re-imagination of The Met, which occupies the space of Derby Hall. Built by the 13th Earl of Derby, Derby Hall shares its architect, Sydney Smirke, with the circular reading room at the British Museum. It’s always been one of Bury’s grandest civic buildings having begun life as a Public Rooms, it’s also been used as the Town Hall, council building and since 1979, as Bury Metropolitan Arts Association.

The Met closed for refurbishment in March 2016 following a successful public fundraising campaign, a £3.1million capital investment from Arts Council England and supporting contributions from Bury Council and other benefactors.

The new improved Met has increased capacity and improved facilities for everyone who uses the venue. It will be able to attract more high profile artists and theatre productions, thanks to new and improved studio and theatre spaces, a new bar area, workshop spaces, new dressing rooms and a new more accessible lift in the centre of the building.