Local Stars– a permanent public sculpture, incorporating digitally-controlled light and sound, set outside The IdeaStore public library, Gladstone Place, London. Comissioned through competition by London Borough of Tower Hamlets and project-managed by ‘Space’. The Piazza, Gladstone Place, London. Installed and made public 4 April 2005
In developing ‘Local Stars’ I was primarily interested in working directly with people local to the area where the London Borough of Tower Hamlets commission was due to be placed – to involve them collaboratively in the creation of an artwork. Due to light pollution, it is often hard to see the night sky in London. I wanted to relate the sky and stars that surround us all to a local community spanning four generations with ethnic backgrounds from around the world.
In order to create the work, I interviewed a number of children and adults. All were given the same questions: What is your favourite memory of or favourite thing about stars? What is your favourite place or place you would like to visit on Earth? What are your dreams for the future? Their responses were recorded and formed the basis for the soundtrack to the four-part sculpture.
Roman Road has an extremely strong set of community organisations. Representatives from all of these interviewed me at a presentation introduced by the following text:
"Charlie is interested in the concept behind the Ideas Store as a place for contemporary technology – a library and a resource for knowledge and research. In this proposal, Charlie is keen to connect the individual to the universe and create a space for dreams, memories and ideas.
"In Local Stars, Charlie will create a light and sound sculptural installation for Gladstone Place. Local Stars will be based on maps of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere night sky star patterns etched onto large metal discs which will be integrated into the landscape design. The discs will glow with shining stars and, as the passer-by approaches, emit the sound of softly spoken voices. These recordings will be taken from interviews with people of all ages from the Roman Road area, creating a series of ‘time capsules’ which, through memories and aspirations, reflect the history and future of Roman road."
The collaborative nature of the piece was very successful, resulting in school workshops and discussions with a huge variety of local people – some through interpreters. I wanted the visual reference to a ‘nuclear family’ through the scale of the sculptures to make people relate their own families to a greater whole.
