‘Litmus’ - Site Specific Artworks

The site specific artworks created in conjunction with Jason Bruges Studio, numbering four in total, are sited at situated at the transition between two environments; the open landscape of Rainham marshes, Essex and the edge of urban conurbation of London.

The artworks act as giant digital litmus papers that sense and respond through interactive sensing equipment to the immediate local environment around them, attempting to reinstate some form of identity to the immediate site. The display is made up of a large exploded LED matrix display approximately seven metres high.

The artworks create a point of mediation between the changing cultural landscapes. They consciously draw on the absence of a local community, and respond by recognising that the community exists instead in the drivers and passengers of vehicles that drive past the sites. The sites are split in two by the A13 road, which acts as a route for drivers leaving or entering London and links both the orbital motorway, the M25 and the commuter districts in the county of Essex.

The artwork reworks the concept of road sign as marker on the isolated and bland road environment, by displaying a five digit display of data that appears initially meaningless. In a territory occupied by transient citizens the artwork encourages the drivers to form a relationship with the artwork by questioning its purpose. Slowly, over the duration of time, an understanding of meaning develops, and the transitory occupants embed the sites with identity through their connection with data.