Wakefield feature wall

The sculptural feature wall that has recently been made and installed outside Kirkgate Railway Station was rendered by Mark Scholfield for Parex and is now being used as a case study for their product.

Interactive walls

Since designing digitally interactive walls in my immersive virtual reality artworks during my NESTA Fellowship a decade ago, I have wanted to make physically responsive walls/environments. I have wanted to bring back the physicality that is tricky to achieve with digital platforms whilst retaining the wonders of the digital opportunity and programming.


I have been making interactive samples to show the principles. I am currently collaborating with DLA architects (John Orrell), Stage One (Tim Leigh) and Matt Little on making two 4m high interactive tiled pieces with words that appear and become abstract in response to the public's movement for Central Square in Leeds. 

Short films of the samples can be seen here:

http://www.jofairfaxstudio.com/projects/interactive_walls

Thanks to NESTA, Matt Little and Marcus Rowlands.

Wakefield

I was asked by Beam on behalf of Wakefield Council to produce a piece that leads people to the entrance of the refurbished Kirkgate Railway Station, Wakefield. A wall was required to separate the public realm with the small park behind. This is the railway station that people use to visit the Hepworth Museum and of course Barabara Hepworth was born in Wakefield. 

The perforations act as a way of connecting the park and public realm whilst also referencing Hepworths sculpturally significant penetration of her forms.

A quote by Wakefield novelist George Gissing is inlaid the surface of the wall using the same technique that is used at the Hepworth Museum. The quote reads: It is the mind which creates the world around us.

6 uplighters are still due to be installed. I'll upload new photographs when that part of the installation is complete.

Many thanks to Fran Smtih, Kate Watson, Beam, Wakefield Council, Seb Boyesen, Simon Wilkins, Mark Scholfield, Waldemar Kripp, Sarah Leeson, Groundwork and Parex.