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Artist StatementRob Colbourne & Stuart Mugridge

Digbeth Public Art concept

1. Industriality, Digbeth and the coach station.The boundary fencescape that it is not one object but an array of relatedfeatures a landscape of relations. In effect the individual components aim toprovoke a sense of intrigue, whilst creating other effects holistically throughoutits structure.

The old stations interior candidly exposed its raw industrial construction whenlooking upward to the ceiling. Aiming to maintain that authenticity, whilstreinterpreting this into something new, the boundary fence explodes this rawgrittiness outwardly to the edges of the apron, the old interior becomingexterior, following the ethos of this re- development.

2. Forms and the Directionality of Weight.Merging the old stations identity and that of the forms of a weighbridge, theindividual components that make up the boundary, perhaps, in effect turn thewhole site into a kind of weighbridge, where people are loaded and unloaded.

*These individual components also lean, playing with their own notion of centreof gravity, the horizontal and vertical. They are formed by folding a flat sheetinto a 3D form, in itself something that can balance. This fold allows us toexperiment in how the structure can lean up to its tipping point.

This leaning gives us notions of architectural balance, or something that impliesa moment of rested potential movement.

3. Solid and Slitted structure; Movement and Flow.

The boundary is about the experience of it, not necessarily the object itself.From passing it at different angles and perspectives, it can seem to be quitesolid, though your own movement, gaps appear between haunches. Fromentering at another angle, the L shaped haunch allows for a slit to open up thatallows visual access to the apron. This references the iron slitting process ofthe Lloyds mill, previously linked to the site whilst embracing the notion ofmotion parallax.

The L shaped haunches placed side by side have a unidirectionality that allowsfor a different effect depending on the angle of approach. Through this it aims toembed the notion of the language of a station and public transport, symbolsthat promote travelling in a space of transition.

4. TransparencyThe gaps between haunches are quite important. As a fence it requires nohorizontal element to hold it together. This in effect created a continuousvertical gap that can suggest that the boundary invites you to visuallyexperience the space beyond, whilst at some points it seems comparativelysolid.Indeed, through our research in this area we have noted that Digbeth is full ofglimpses into workshops, factories and so forth, through grilles, fences and

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shutters. However often fences and other restrictions can seem hostile andseparating public and private space in quite an unfriendly nature.The boundary fence both aims to maintain this character, but not the sense ofrestriction and negativity associated with that. Therefore we can see andexperience what goes on in this area in a friendly way, reinterpreting theimportant identity of the area and visually blur the notions of the public andprivate space.

4. Colour and FinishThe boundary fence and its components, of an industrial nature would lendthemselves to a contrast in their colour and treatment. This treatment can echothe way Averys products were treated, as both raw functional objects, with alsoa sense of the ornamental. These practices in japanning (a type of enameledgloss finish) and the tensions between an industrial structures being finished inthis way begin to merge and echo the sensibilities of the place.

The use of Red as a colour shouts loudly through the sites history. Used indecorating Averys weighing apparatus, it also became a motif for the sitesoccupation by the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited -also known as Midland Red, who aimed to Paint the Midlands Red with theirfleet.In the same vein this colour would be very recognizable as a king of alternativesignage, and links to other symbols that can be integrated within artinvolvement at the station..

5. LightingThe modular nature of the boundary lends itself well to a lighting system of thesame nature. Rather than a wash of light across the whole fence haunches willbe lit individually to establish a framework of visual rhythm. Lighting would beset incrementally using groupings related to the avoirdupois system of weighti.e. using a more imperial system of division.

Like the milled divisions on a pre-decimilisation ruler the lit haunches will bedivided into more imperial subsets of 2s and 12s. Imagine every other haunch litwhite and every twelfth lit red the eye of the viewer measures its progressalong the expanse of the fence, or measures the movement of coaches againstthis backdrop. This division although inspired by weight also begins to referencedistance as it highlights senses of movement and progress.

Through careful lighting the boundary fence will establish a balanced interplaybetween light and shadow through the use of shadow the lighting becomesmore effective. From the street side of the boundary the passer-by will have

highlighted glimpses into the station as the view inwards becomes revealed andconcealed with every passing step. Again progress will be reckoned as the spiltwhite light is incrementally replaced by a glow of red light.

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