(Kinetic Installation, 2014) paper, wood, plastic, metal, motors, carbon fibre, digital components, batteries
Site-specific kinetic installation commissioned by MK Fringe in TheCentreMK (see videos below to appreciate the movement and sound).
This piece has evolved into a different and more ambitious touring work – here is the current iteration of Breathing Room (with thanks to an Unlimited Commission.)
Ownership of public space was the fringe theme, and I was interested in the hard line between commercial and non-commercial space in Milton Keynes. I got as much breadth of Milton Keynes community as possible to donate their waste paper, from which I constructed a living, breathing representation of the community, recolonizing the commercial space. We had donations from all sorts of charities, civic bodies, interest groups, and individuals, including copies of degree certificates, and old school work!
I was overwhelmed by the response this piece generated. The public really embraced it, and you can see a very brief clip of me talking about it on the local news here.
Here’s a couple of quick videos – I’m afraid it’s just me wafting an iphone about to get a sense of the motion and sound.
For people interested in the evolution of Breathing Room, in this early one each panel has its own windscreen wiper motor – there’s no axels or gears – so that meant me and my friends climbing up and down piles of cars with socket sets and no ladders in a scrap yard liberating wiper motors. There were then quite a few iterations of seed money to finesse processes and material and engineering – including inbetween stages which were shown at South Bank and the Attenborough Centre, before getting the big grant to make the full touring version, which premiered in 2021.
Images below, including some of the construction, and of the opening. Thanks to Maja Dunn, Legge, and Hilly Edwards for the unofficial photographs.
