Public Artwork
Wander
Artwork creator(s):
Besant, Derek
Text author(s):
Besant, Derek
Installation year:
2005 Description:
Transit station 72-panel glass ceiling with text
Text of the artwork:
TRAIN SET --- SEVEN RAVENS ACROSS THE ----
IN TIME ---------- RAIN MOVING INTO ----
THAT IS ------------- THE PRAIRIE AS A---
THIS SPIRIT ----
FOR ANOTHER---
I WANT HER TO LEAVE ME
Text theme:
The text in each panel integrated site-specific situations; meant to capture someone's attention for a moment while in a passive waiting mode, on their way to somewhere
Artwork theme:
Waiting for a train in the city
Dimensions:
Height:
1.5m
Width:
1.5m Note(s):
Each panel is edge-lit with LED lighting, programmed to intensify the ambient light of the station above the heads of passengers every time the train arrives at the station. The concept was to have different panels programmed sequentially in such a way that different ones were illuminated, thereby rewriting the text and changing its meaning.
For example, across 6 panels it might read like this, thus altering the meaning implied:
I WANT HER TO LEAVE ME
I WANT HER TO LEAVE
I WANT HER TO
I WANT HER
I WANT
I
Speech and reading are formulated in different parts of the brain. The text registers as incoming data that is read by the brain through the optic nerve and filed into categories of recognition (re- cognition). This bridging process triggers associations, whereby the reader automatically assembles the text as a memory foil, drawing from their own personal remembrance. In other words, the text is designed to associate and link common possibilities of experience to language.
- Conversation with the artist, September 4, 2009
Artist's biography:
Derek Besant
Owner(s):
City of Calgary 
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