The chosen piece was «On Blank Pages», which we have already carried out in many cities around the world and which has become one of our favorites, as it allows us real interaction with the visitors, who become the real creators of the piece, which is transformed and filled with meaning based on their contributions.
Project Name: Lumiere Durham
Studio Name: Luzinterruptus
The purpose of the piece has been the same as on previous occasions, to carry out a large-scale installation with a poetic character, a wall of free expression where the thoughts of citizens can be shown without censorship, made of light and sound. A large wall covered by thousands of white sheet notebooks that invade the public space and house a monumental collage of anonymous and intimate interventions that the wind moves at random, offering the spectator millions of random compositions, the fruit of collective contributions.
In this case, we used some 2,200 notebooks of white sheets, made with paper derived from cement, which makes it resistant to inclement weather and totally ecological.
The festival proposed that we work on a specific theme, «The judicial system,» and of course, we thought it was most appropriate. Artichoke’s learning and participation teams organized workshops with groups from across the UK, and the participants’ responses also formed part of the installation.
The booklets explored the UK judicial process, the prison system and its impact, as well as current colonial regimes and justice-related issues. In almost all the contributions, there was a common voice, that the system has failed and that power is in the wrong hands.
An online form was also created where anyone could respond to questions about the justice system, an effective way of getting the initiative across the country. The answers were transcribed by hand into notebooks by groups of volunteers.
All this groundwork done with the communities is what gives the piece its true value and makes it unique each time. It never ceases to amaze us what people manage to convey through their writings and drawings; they are extremely generous in their contributions and sincere in their comments.
