Events for World Kidney Day, 12 March 2009

Dialysis Demolition

We started the day with a pair of dialysis machines that were due to be recycled, plus a few other bits of hospital junk (all of it due for disposal) and created this character and his friend the large metal kidney - seen here with with Donal O'Donoghue (left), the National Clinical Director for Kidney Services (aka the Renal Tsar) and John Scoble (right), the Clinical Director of the Renal Department at Guy's and St. Thomas' hospital.

This was done from scratch in less than 4 hours by an amazing crew, from left to right in the picture below: Tora Harmsworth and Brian Harmsworth of Metal Creations and A.F. Hussey Ltd; Bert Coles (kneeling), Pip Rush and Rob Adlam of Arcadia Spectacular, with Donal O'Donighue once again, in between Pip and Rob. Huge thanks to photographer David Reed for chronicling the morning. All of the pictures he took can be seen here.

Here's how we described the event before it happened:

Defunct dialysis machines and equipment will be demolished and turned into spectacular sculpture by some of the country’s top artists in this area. Starting early in the morning on 12 March (7am), and over the course of the day, these old machines will metamorphose into something strikingly new and beautiful.

Thousands of people still depend on dialysis machines to keep them alive. Many of these people’s lives would be transformed if they had a kidney transplant. The main reason this is not happening is a shortage of donor organs. We desperately need more people to sign the organ donor register, or consider becoming living kidney donors.

Help us to demolish the waiting list for kidney transplants.

• Thousands of people in the UK are waiting for a kidney transplant.
• Hundreds of them die every year while waiting.
• The main reason is a shortage of available organs for transplant.
• To get rid of the waiting list, we need more living donors and more people to agree to be organ donors after they die, and for their families to know about and follow their wishes.
• If everyone who needs one had a kidney transplant, the NHS would save over £150m per year (because keeping someone on dialysis costs £20-40k per year).

People on haemodialysis have a complex relationship with dialysis machine. These things are simultaneously the thing that keeps them alive and which ties them down and prevents them living a normal life. This led us to plan this one day festival of beauty from destruction, using two dialysis machines from Guy’s Hospital (which have reached the end of their useful lives, and were destined to be scrapped).

The artists are Pip and Bertie from Arcadia Spectacular and metalwork artist Tora Harmsworth.