11/03/2009

Katie Paterson Contemplates the Ecosystem in a New Commission for Vauxhall Motors

London.- Scottish artist Katie Paterson, one of the most exciting and closely watched artists of the moment, has been commissioned by Vauxhall Motors to create an art work on the theme of re-inventing British classics.

Paterson has taken a British seaside town as her inspiration, and will create a work for Deal Pier. Along the length of the pier, out to sea, the lights will flicker in time withlightning stroms as they occur live across the globe.

Starting on the winter equinox, the shortest day of the year on the 21st December, Streetlight Strom will take place throughout the darkest months of the British winter, silently conveying the weather patterns of a whole planet.

In this contemplative and evocative place, the gentle flickering of the lights will unfold between dusk, darkness and dawn, reflecting on the water through the night, contrasting with the drama of the lightning strikes that spark through.

Pairing the commonplace with the sublime is a recurring theme in Paterson's work. Viewers can gaze out to the horizon from the pier as these everday streetlights connect the imagination with faraway places and the Earth's ecosystem at large. A simple concept, yet expansive in scope, the work will connect people with diserve geopraphies, collapsing distances and timescales, the artificial and the natural.

Central to Paterson's practice is collaboration and this commission is no exception as the artist works with technologist, engineers, meteorologists and lightning scientists within the UK and internationally. Ambitious in scale, Streetlight Strom will fuel new cutting-edge partnerships and innovation and reflect Vauxhall's use of advanced technologies and ethos of excellence in design and engineering. The theme of re-inventing British classics chimes with Vauxhall's own work reinventing the car as we know it in the form of the Ampera, its first electric car.

Source: www.artdaily.com

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