Across the Line
September 2006, Licolnshire
Each year Beacon Art Project commission artists to make new work to be shown in heritage sites across Lincolnshire. I was commissioned to make work for the group exhibition no place, like home in 2006, with my work being sited in the ticket office of Boston Railway Station. As I began to research and develop my ideas for this project, I started to look closely at the railway line that runs from Nottingham to Skegness, a journey made by many people each year as they go on their summer holiday. I wondered if people really noticed the vast, flat landscape they were passing through and decided that I would really like to explore this area by running as close as I could to the railway line between Nottingham and Skegness.
As I looked into this further, I realised that this was quite a long way, and would probably take me about four days. I planned meticulously, working out exactly where I would stop for lunch each day and where I would pitch tent for the night: I wanted to feel a sense of being displaced, carrying just what was needed for four days, making a new home each evening. So, I set off from Nottingham railway station on August 1st, with Edward accompanying me on the bike, and arrived in Skegness four days and 91 miles later. Along the route, I took a photograph of the view ahead every five minutes and these were edited together as a moving image piece to be shown in the station ticket office. Alongside this I showed an animated image of me running, which was developed from video footage taken by Edward.
This was an incredible experience and an immense physical challenge. You can read about the build up to the event and the details of the run itself by following the link below.
External Links:
FitArtist
(documentation of the run)
Beacon Art Project
Article
Another article
