ANDY WEBSTER
13 letters shaped from salvaged plywood boards, 3500 LEDs, and 35 solar panels [dimensions 10m x 1.5m x 1.5m]
13 letters shaped from salvaged plywood boards, 3500 LEDs, and 35 solar panels [dimensions 10m x 1.5m x 1.5m]
A temporary installation in Miterdale Forest, UK, the work consists of roughly cut letters forming the phrase "a minor miracle." The LED lights embedded in each letter charge during daylight hours via solar panels and illuminate at dusk. Due to the basic nature of the solar technology, the illumination is unreliable and unpredictable, with sections of text failing and fading at different rates, depending on previous weather conditions and available sunlight.
The work was made as part of 'The Good Life,’ a residency project devised by artists Derek Tyman and Emma Rushton in collaboration with Lanternhouse, Ulverston, UK. The residency location was a reconstruction of Thoreau's cabin built by Tyman and Rushton, situated in the heart of Miterdale Forest. Using the writings of 19th-century American philosopher and abolitionist Henry David Thoreau, activists, writers, and musicians were invited to respond to his ideas on self-sufficiency, politics, and nature.