Goldsmiths and BAA have joined forces to create a unique contemporary art and design project: the Goldsmiths/BAA Expo Award with afMMXII. Goldsmiths students from all levels and disciplines have proposed innovative installations for Heathrow Terminal 5, culminating in the commission of two artworks for Departures.
This new partnership started last year and has developed into a meaningful and original project. 70 students in 28 teams originally put ideas forward for the installation. Seven of these teams were invited to develop their concepts and presentations with support from BAA, Goldsmiths, world-leading design and communication agency Imagination and cutting-edge art organization afMMXII.
Heathrow’s role as a gateway for the UK and an international crossroads for the world makes Terminal 5 a dynamic public space that is full of potential for creative intervention. The brief evoked diverse, innovative responses from Goldsmiths’ students, who explored such themes as: air travel as a collapse in time and space; the airport as a temporal, non-place of super-modernity; critical awareness of environmental sustainability; global networks of knowledge and connectivity; and the glamour of flight.
Goldsmiths is internationally renowned for contemporary art and forward thinking design. This challenging collaboration between BAA and Goldsmiths forms a new channel for exploring potential relationships between commerce and creative practice. It has generated a fascinating and mutually beneficial critical dialogue between these two influential partners.
After a final presentation, the 2 winning teams were decided by a panel that included Andrew Shoben, Professor of Public Art at Goldsmiths, and Cathy de Monchaux, Goldsmiths’ alumna and international artist. Andrew and Cathy went on to mentor the students through the award process, lending professional insight and critique.
The winning teams were: Sally Hogarth and Emma Johnson who put forward ‘Taking Place’ - a multi media light installation with video imagery from the departure lounges of airports from all over the world; and Lobby, a five strong collaboration who put forward ‘Arc’ - an arc-shaped structure covered with blue Rimex, the edges illuminated by white LED lights behind a band of frosted perspex.
As a result of this collaboration, these artworks will be displayed for 2 months at Heathrow Terminal 5. The works will be displayed simultaneously on the top floor at Terminal 5 from 13 September – 30 October as part of the 2008 London Design Festival.
