Tickets on Sale Now for New Exhibition, Light: Installations by Bruce Munro

KENNETT SQUARE, PA– Tickets are on sale now for the exhibition Light: Installations by Bruce Munro at Longwood Gardens June 30 through October 30. Light features eight works in both indoor and outdoor locations throughout the Gardens chosen by Munro to showcase his immersive, large-scale, light-based installations. To purchase tickets or to make free Member reservations, visit longwoodgardens.org.

“Art is a strong way of connecting people to themselves and the landscape,” said Bruce Munro. “I hope to inspire guests to become more aware of the space they are in and to revel in the wonder that is Longwood Gardens.”

Light includes eight installations, spanning indoors and outdoors. Highlights include Field of Light featuring 18,000 illuminated stemmed orbs lit by fiber optics along the Large Lake landscape. In the Orchard, SOS illuminates an array of lights with a pathway of 162 gabion baskets synchronized to the tuning of an old radio, while Gone Fishing features three 15-foot diameter structures, each formed using 100 fishing rods beautifully lit and reflecting on the surface of the Small Lake. Additional installations include Time & Again with 37 stainless steel lilies forming a 20-foot convex dome shimmering with radial star bursts of light at the Whispering Bench, while a flamboyance of 1,000 white flamingos with an array of continuing changing hues, wade in the pear-shaped basin in Ramandu’s Table.

Indoors, a monumental three-and-a-half-meter geodesic sphere of 1,820 empty bottles radiates in the East Conservatory in Green Flash, while a vast shimmering lake of 8,960 CDs takes over the Exhibition Hall with overhead projectors casting a unique, Longwood-inspired film sequence creating an immersive sensory experience in C-scales. The Music Room plays host to the Time & Place series, where each artwork reinterprets moments in time, inspired by Longwood, distilled, and represented as abstractions.

In addition to the wonder of Light, guests can enjoy horticulture highlights throughout the Gardens’ hundreds of acres, including the Flower Garden Walk blooming with perennials and annuals, the Idea Garden, showcasing interesting plant combinations, the 86-acre Meadow Garden, and the shady retreat of Peirce’s Woods. Longwood’s famed Conservatory will showcase a variety of colorful and fragrant tropical plants.

Guests can also relax in the Beer Garden featuring brews from Victory Brewing Company, including a series of Longwood Seasons signature brews developed using ingredients from the Gardens. In addition, live music fills the Beer Garden from 5:30–8:30 pm June through August, and from 5–8 pm in September and October.

Longwood’s spectacular 30-minute Illuminated Fountain Performance delights guests at 9:15 pm June through August, and 8:15 pm in September and October. On select Sunday afternoons, the sounds of the 62-bell, five-octave Longwood Carillon fills the Gardens during live carillon concerts at 2 pm.

Light Nights
On the second Friday of each month, Longwood will host themed Light Nights with talks, live music, fountain performances, family activities, and concessions. Light Nights are free with a Light ticket or Member reservation.

My Only Sunshine, Friday, July 8, 5:30-8:30
Caribbean Nights, Friday, August 12, 5:30-8:30 pm
Over the Moon, Friday, September 9, 5-8 pm
Wondrous Water, Friday, October 14, 5-8 pm

Light: Installations by Bruce Munro is on view June 30–October 30, Thursday through Sunday evenings from 6–11 pm. The exhibition can be viewed beginning at dusk. Special tickets are required beginning at 5 pm (June 30-August 28) and at 4 pm (September 1-October 30). Members require free timed reservations if arriving after 3 pm on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from June 30 through October 30. Admission is $35 for adults (ages 19+); $32 for college students and seniors; $19 for youth (ages 5–18), and free for ages 4 and under. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit longwoodgardens.org.

About Longwood Gardens
In 1906, industrialist Pierre du Pont (1870-1954) purchased a small farm near Kennett Square, PA, to save a collection of historic trees from being sold for lumber. Today, Longwood Gardens is one of the world’s great horticultural displays, encompassing 1,100 acres of dazzling gardens, woodlands, meadows, fountains, 10,010-pipe Aeolian organ and conservatory. Longwood continues the mission set forth by Mr. du Pont to inspire people through excellence in garden design, horticulture, education, and the performing arts, through programming that includes exhibitions, musical performances by leading artists, renowned horticulture education programs, horticulture research, environmental stewardship, and community engagement. Longwood is one of more than 30 gardens in the Philadelphia region known as America’s Garden Capital. For more information, visit longwoodgardens.org.

About The Artist
Bruce Munro (dual citizen England/Australia) is best known for producing large immersive light-based installations, which often employ a massing of components by the thousands. Born in London in 1959, he completed a B.A. in Fine Arts at Bristol in 1982. Shortly after he moved to Sydney where he worked in design and lighting. Returning to England in 1992, he and his wife settled in Wiltshire and raised four children. Following his father’s death in 1999, Munro felt compelled to resume art making on a personal level. His work has been shown at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Waddesdon Manor, the Rothschild Collection, Buckinghamshire; and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Munro’s work is held in museum collections internationally including the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. For more information on Bruce Munro and his work, visit www.brucemunro.co.uk.