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Science in Society   2011

Household Gloss on MDF

Science in Society was  a 1981 project which set out to bring non-specialist scientific literacy to the post-16 curriculum. It was one of the first high-profile UK science courses to include topics with wide political implications. A major influence on the choice and treatment of topics was the Club of Rome book Limits to Growth (1972). The report was based on modeling which explored how exponential growth interacts with finite resources.

 

I discovered two of the course Readers (published by Heinemann) at a second-hand book market. On the back cover was a list of all 12 titles in the series. An online search led me to an archive of the books in PDF format complete with the covers. There were two books missing from the archive but it was clear that a system had been used to create the cover graphics using 4 different background colours and 3 different stripe colours that could be combined to create 12 different colour schemes. Following the system it was possible to locate the colours for the missing covers to complete the 12 panels.

 

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(pre) Occupation   2011

With Anne Deeming

Emulsion paint and Plaster on wall

This collaborative work arose from an interest shared with Anne Deeming in relationships between artwork and public space.

 

The graphic form of the Science in Society book covers is reminiscent of the types of designs used to define and add interest to municipal spaces.

 

Deeming's plaster casts are placed over the wall painting in a formation that adheres to its own logic with no apparent relationship to, or influence from, the graphic arrangement onto which it is placed.

 

Both works fight to occupy and impose on the space through their own means.

 

 

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