Colourful Language
Public Art Installation. Shortlisted entry for the Modern Maypole Competition.In collaboration with Thomas Randall-Page.
London is the most linguistically diverse city in the world, a result of its position as a global city, and we believe this should be cherished and celebrated.
We propose to place an urban scale map of Greater London in the public realm of London’s Strand and, using the census data on language, we will gather threads from this map to a single point high above the street.
Each thread represents a set quantity of people, its origin on the map denotes where these people live, and its colour corresponds to which language they speak.
Acting at both human and urban scale, this contemporary Maypole will be both a beacon of colour and a fascinating and fresh insight into London’s diversity.
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We propose to place an urban scale map of Greater London in the public realm of London’s Strand and, using the census data on language, we will gather threads from this map to a single point high above the street.
Each thread represents a set quantity of people, its origin on the map denotes where these people live, and its colour corresponds to which language they speak.
Acting at both human and urban scale, this contemporary Maypole will be both a beacon of colour and a fascinating and fresh insight into London’s diversity.
