Overview

Goldsmiths and BAA have joined forces to create a unique contemporary art and design project: the Goldsmiths/BAA Expo Award with af2012. Goldsmiths students from all levels and disciplines have proposed innovative installations for Heathrow Terminal 5, culminating in the commission of two artworks for Departures.

This new partnership started last year and has developed into a meaningful and original project. 70 students in 28 teams originally put ideas forward for the installation. Seven of these teams were invited to develop their concepts and presentations with support from BAA, Goldsmiths, world-leading design and communication agency Imagination and cutting-edge art organization af2012.

After a final presentation, the 2 winning teams were decided by a panel that included Andrew Shoben, Professor of Public Art at Goldsmiths, and Cathy de Monchaux, Goldsmiths’ alumna and international artist. Andrew and Cathy went on to mentor the students through the award process, lending professional insight and critique.

The winning teams were: Sally Hogarth and Emma Johnson who put forward ‘Taking Place’ - a multi media light installation with video imagery from the departure lounges of airports from all over the world; and Lobby, a five strong collaboration who put forward ‘Arc’ - an arc-shaped structure covered with blue Rimex, the edges illuminated by white LED lights behind a band of frosted perspex.

As a result of this collaboration, these artworks will be displayed for 2 months at Heathrow Terminal 5. The works will be displayed simultaneously on the top floor at Terminal 5 from 13 September – 30 October as part of the 2008 London Design Festival.

The Artworks

Taking Place
by Sally Hogarth and Emma Johnson



Bio:
Emma from Surrey and Sally from the Isle of Man, both 22, met at Goldsmiths whilst both studying BA (hons) Fine Art and History of Art. They saw the award as an opportunity to bring together their different specialisms via the airport site: Sally’s in social interaction and Emma’s in time and space. Emma graduated this year and Sally is in her final year of study.

About Taking Place:
“A terminal exists as a site of transition both physically and emotionally. It is a temporal space for those who pass through it, an in-between space of social connectivity. It is a place of departure and arrival where personal exchanges of emotion are enacted publicly and collectively.

As artists we wanted to create a piece which not only explored these above concepts but offered the passenger a mirror to their own experiences of travel. We wanted to create a piece which enabled a sense of global connectivity encouraging excitement about their journey and physical experience of travelling to their destinations.

The artwork consists of a structural shape, one which echoes the take off runways, and is uplifting in its appearance, drawing the viewers vision up and out to the airside of the terminal. Displayed on this structure are a series of projections consisting of imagery from arrival terminals around the world. The imagery focuses on an aerial view of passengers arriving through the gates at their destination; the end of the journey, completing a cycle of transition from one space to another. The projections are aligned so that the movement of passengers around the world becomes synchronised with the direction of the structure of our piece, as if they are all walking up and along the artwork.

The piece allows an encounter of time and space, one which is unbounded and unrestricted by geographical distance. It acts as a channel of information tracing the circulation of people at different stages in their journeys. Therefore, reflecting a technological speed of transference from one space in time to another, which embodies the nature of air travel in the 21st century.

The installation incorporates images of past journeys and movements which are encountered in the present and brought together into one site, exploring time relations of past, present and future within the location of an airport and the places it connects to. Therefore the piece is positioned within the context of temporal and shifting relations of time and space.

As the viewers encounter the artwork and the passengers of other destinations, through the projections they are united on the chance encounter of that moment with people experiencing the same notion of transition. The piece also allows the viewers to walk over the projections and along the structure. The projections merge with the presence of the viewer standing on the structure. The work occurs in a moment of encounter between the viewers present and the global passengers projected, hence the artwork relies of this moment of encounter, and so the presence of the viewer completes the piece.

In using imagery from arrival terminals around the world a cycle of connectivity and circulation between different cultures and spaces is collated. An emotional level of the artwork orientates around a sense of connection through location, space and time, and dissolution of distance through a collective global encounter; in that moment the world is a closer place.”

Feedback:
“From working together as artists on this project, we now plan to continue working with each other on future projects. We feel the process has given us experience, not only in learning to communicate and work together as a team artistically, but also in a business context, in making sure the project comes together and that our piece is realised to its maximum potential.”

Specs:
Taking Place is made from steel and MDF. Video imagery is of the following airport departure lounges: Bangkok and Suvara, Thailand; Tokyo and Narita, Japan; Frankfurt, Germany; Los Angeles, California; Dallas, Texas; and Zurich, Switzerland.

Sponsors: Sony.



Arc
by Lobby (Tim Bennett, Peter Joslyn, Matt Johnstone, Magali Reus, Dan Shaw-Town)



Bio:
Tim Bennett 34, Peter Joslyn 34, Matt Johnstone 26, Magali Reus 27 and Dan Shaw-Town 25 met during the MFA Fine art course at Goldsmiths College. In 2007 Shaw-Town and Johnstone curated a group exhibition at Hales gallery in London, including themselves and the other three artists, the title was 'Lobby'. The team, who are each engaged in their own autonomous practices intend to continue to produce occasional collaborative projects, The next being organized by Bennett in Munich this December.

About Arc:
“The form of Arc initially referred to the shape and dimensions of the A380 airbus, which can be seen as the apex of the contemporary ‘time capsule’: a supermodern, mobile space. The fuselage shaped cross- section that constitutes Arc shares monumental qualities with landmarks from the natural and built environment to embody the idea of a gateway or portal, therefore functioning symbolically as a threshold point of departure.

The white LED lighting in the sculpture creates a complete reflection in the flooring of the space, creating a portal-like shape, or figure of eight.

In developing the idea for Arc, one of the most striking things on entering the new Terminal 5 building is the simplicity with which the architecture forms a continuous, open space. The overriding strength of the building is this generosity, allowing one to see right across the expanse of the terminal. It gives a sense of freedom of movement, accessibility and ease in using the space. The architecture shares a strong relationship with the way that visual information is communicated and received, contributing to the smooth functioning of Terminal 5.

The space overwhelms in its architecture but also in its function as a point of convergence or gateway. This produces another, more abstract function: time and space collapse as a result of the vast and diverse range of itineraries, situations and contexts that convene within. This refers to the immense number of people to whom the space will be a point of departure, whether they are travelling or simply saying their goodbyes, the people passing through the building represent a bustling multitude of differences. In this they bring the architecture to life and help transform Terminal 5 into a truly contemporary space: one that is truly of the moment. Another observation is the that the space can be described as ‘transient’, therefore one achievement the team hopes to realise through theproject is to monumentalise it, to freeze the moment in memory.”

Specs:
Arc is made from: Stainless Steel, Rimex, LED and Perspex.
The dimensions of Arc are: 4.2 x 4.2 x 1m.

Sponsors: Osram and Rimex.



Initial Presentations to BAA






Artwork Manufacture:











Press Cuttings:






http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7616294.stm

http://www.gold.ac.uk/degree-shows/expo-award/

http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/goldsmiths-students-unveil-art-heathrow-airports-terminal-5