Stunning Turing Tribute in Place At Paddington Central Campus
British Land has unveiled an artistic tribute to pioneering mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing at its Paddington Central campus.
The public artwork is called ‘Message from the Unseen World’, and celebrates the life and work of Turing, who was born in Paddington and is best known for the leading role he played in breaking the enigma code during the Second World War.
Rachael McNabb, Futurecity curator, said: “The project is an example of how large-scale, digital art and design can work successfully in public places, enlivening unseen parts of the city. It’s with exactly this sort of creative vision – which is increasingly led by the private sector - that London can continue to be a world-class city of culture.
The piece, which spans the width of Bishop’s Bridge Road, was curated by Futurecity and devised by United Visual Artists (“UVA”), in collaboration with Hackney-based poet Nick Drake.
Matt Clark of UVA conceived a living artwork, with a poem as the centrepiece. He approached Nick Drake to write the verse, which depicts Turing speaking posthumously about his life.
Nick Drake said: “To take poetry and make it a collaborative project has been hugely exciting. We are not simply presenting the poem, rather we are exploring the idea of a machine thinking poetically - or perhaps more accurately - appearing to write like a poet while thinking like a machine, which goes to the very heart of Turing’s explorations on artificial intelligence. I hope the piece makes people more aware of Turing’s remarkable life and ground-breaking work.”
The installation comprises aluminium panels perforated by holes and LEDs which display extracts from Turing’s ground-breaking ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’ in patterns based on Baudot code. As the LEDs are illuminated they reveal words and verses from Drake’s poem, with the display controlled by an algorithm which experiments with different combinations of letters and words.
‘Message from the Unseen World’ is located close to the canalside entrance to Paddington Underground Station under Bishops Bridge Road, at the entrance to the 11 acre Paddington Central campus.
