Aether & Hemera

CONNECTC2 ART STRATEGY: This project is an opportunity to challenge our awareness: we are deeply interested in Sustrans themes and responsible travel and we believe that everyone can make a difference, for this reason when we approach a project we always try to assess the activity and identify changes that can be made to improve its sustainability.

We recognize that art has an ability to reflect and potentially influence our behaviour and public art is by its nature in the public eye. In this context we believe it has a role to play in promoting responsible behaviours; not only where sustainability is the subject of the artwork and is directly perceptible by the audience, but also where the artist’s practice and approach are sustainable and become embedded in the methodology.

We are particularly interested in the theme of Movement, Travel and Transport; the modes of transport and the human compulsion to travel from the earliest times plus historic, political and economic reasons to travel. The historical practices of mapping, routing and navigation have dramatically changed in the past few years with the advent of Sat Nav, and collaborative mapping tools such as Google Maps; all these can help support TravelSmart’s development and connection to the cultural roots of the practice and of the spaces.

We are also interested in understanding changes in route usage by cyclists during different times/period of the years in different locations and to visualise creatively Sustrans Automatic Cycle Counters data. This are some ideas we would like to incorporate in our artworks.

Our approach is always informed by the fundamental consideration of the activities, history, cultural memory, perceptions and emotions of the human beings who are inhabiting the space.

For this reason we would like to hear directly from local people what they consider to be the essence of their community.