Quantifying Minimum Needs, 2021
Key Hole Wires Commission Proposal
St.Pancras International
Hybrid Consulting
Curator: Charlie Levine
Quantifying Minimum Needs is a proposed artwork for the St.Pancras Wires commission. The artwork responds to the vast network of interconnecting geographies that coalesce at St Pancras International station. This station is exceptional as it is one of the only British railway stations that connects travellers to mainland Europe as well as a number of other significant places throughout Britain. Quantifying Minimum Needs endeavours to evoke the interconnectivity between landscapes and travellers in the context of this remarkable railway station.
The proposed artwork responds to the setting of St Pancras International by physically referring to the contours of the railway lines that intersect the station. The railway lines will be represented by suspended curvilinear ribbon-like shapes forming a whimsical network of vibrant sculptural elements. The sculptures will be clad in imagery reflecting the bedrock geology along the railway lines, enabling viewers to experience a range of visual textures derived from the foundations this exceptional railway station is connected to.
The renowned gothic and modern architectural details from St Pancras International will also feature in the artwork, generating a dialogue with the station itself. The artwork will be imbued with implicit movement in its curvilinear shapes, echoing the flow of movement of passengers traveling through the station. The proposed artwork is inspired by railway networks though serves as a metaphor for an expanded view of the term including social and biological networks. The mapping of the bedrock through the railway’s vast expanse of geography suggests both physical and social connections between the places and people this network passes through.
The layered sculptural elements, clad in textures of rocks and minerals, will be evocative of geological stratigraphy, conjuring an awareness of Earth’s immense history. Observing natural phenomena from our planet’s past presents us with a new way of understanding our human activities within a geological context relevant to larger social, economic, and political issues. An appreciation of geologic timescales helps us to understand and define the limits to the consumption of Earth’s resources.
Quantifying Minimum Needs is an opportunity to celebrate the geographical interconnectivity that converges at St Pancras International. The title is derived from a definition of interconnectivity that relates to sustainable design. “Quantifying minimum needs is the first step towards interconnectivity and building local interconnectivity acknowledges that we are inextricably linked to each other and the natural world”. Quantifying Minimum Needs aims to conjure a sentiment that relates to a mindset our species urgently needs to embrace as we respond to the demands of climate change.