Automated Observations, Wenyon & Gamble, 2003,
digital photograph recorded at the K1 weather buoy in the Atlantic Ocean, 1 x 6.5 metres (H X W)
(commission for the Met Office Headquarters building, Exeter, Devon, England)
Our title refers not only to our automated digital camera but also to the workings of the buoy itself. We chose the ‘buoy’ as an instrument of contemporary meteorological development. This buoy was one of many sited off the West coast of the British Isles and Ireland after the Great Storm of 1987, an event we could recall from our own history. These anthropomorphic devices are unmanned weather stations. We took this image from a dinghy circling the buoy--the wind and the tide push and pull the craft to and from the subject.
Installation of the finished photograph was completed in January 2004 in "The Street" lobby area of the Met Office's new building in Exeter, Devon, England. Four other artists made work for the building.
Commission by the Met Office. Produced with assistance of the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Services (RMAS Salmaid) and the Marine Engineering Department of the Met Office. Commission consultant was Tom Littlewood of Gingko Projects Ltd.
Catalog essay by Shirley MacWilliam
Catalog (excerpt PDF)
