Atomised

Artist

Site-specific art installation

Atomised was a site-specific art installation created on Bathampton Meadows, which was under threat from development plans. It helped raise media awareness and contributed to the success of a local grassroots campaign. Atomised was featured in Bath Echo, Bath Chronicle, Bath Life as well as visited by local primary schools.

The installation’s title, Atomised, can mean both the complete destruction of matter and the deconstruction of something into its separate elements. The installation attempts to capture this duality. The installation uses as its source material a photo of the meadows by a member of the local campaign group.

Making of

Atomised is based on a photograph of the meadows, taken by a member of the local campaign group Save Bathampton Meadows.

The photo was processed using software that analysed its colour space. Each colour is represented as a sphere, sized by its frequency in the image and positioned in 3D space according to RGB values. The resulting physical histogram captures the meadow’s colour diversity, set in contrast against the stark concrete of the barn, highlighting the richness, both visual and ecological, that would be lost if the area had become a car park.

Impact

Many saw the Park & Ride plans as a short-term, ineffective solution to a problem that demanded car-free alternatives. Atomised offered a different way to engage with the issue, imagining one possible future for the meadows.

The installation helped keep public and media attention on the campaign, encouraging people to see the threatened landscape from a new perspective. It was featured in local newspapers and magazines and even became part of a school trip for local primary children.

After years of sustained grassroots pressure, including public engagement efforts like this, B&NES Cabinet voted to scrap plans for a fourth Park & Ride.

mini-talk

I was invited to give a talk to the enthusiastic kids of Batheaston Primary about the project. It was inspiring to see them so engaged with the campaign in general and know that the project sparked their imaginations.

Led by their art teacher Alison Smith they created their very own mini-atomised sculptures.

“Inspired by David Gillett and his art installation at New Leaf Farm, we based our work on photos of our beautiful countryside in Batheaston, not just the meadows as we value all of our countryside and want to protect it.”

Bath echo article

Below is an interview I gave to the Bath Echo:

David Gillett, who has worked with among others Aardman and the BBC, has created a 3D installation representing the colours of the meadows, with a series of coloured spheres suspended in the air and set against the backdrop of a concrete wall.

“I found this stark corner of untreated concrete in a barn on New Leaf farm, and it made visual sense,” said Gillett.

“You have the diversity of colours and shapes of the meadows, with each sphere in proportion to the frequency of that colour in the meadow, set against this monotone brutalist concrete which represents the car park they want to build here instead.”

“I found this stark corner of untreated concrete in a barn on New Leaf farm, and it made visual sense,” said Gillett.

The installation was inspired by a photograph taken by one of the local residents campaigning against the Park & Ride and used in a calendar of images of the meadows through the seasons.

“I’m a keen cyclist myself,” said Gillett, who also runs a photographic project for amateur photographers around the world.

“I know these meadows and New Leaf Farm.

And when I heard about the campaign, it caught my imagination. We don’t want this very beautiful part of the world to be ruined by a massive car park, and I thought this would be another way of keeping the spotlight on this issue and getting the growing opposition to it heard.”

“I know these meadows and New Leaf Farm.

The installation is called ‘Atomised’ and can be viewed at New Leaf Farm until the end of January. Gillett said he called it ‘Atomised’ because he liked “the duality of the word".

“Atomised can mean the complete destruction of matter, which is what they will do to these beautiful meadows,” Gillett explained.

“And it can mean the deconstruction of something into its separate elements, which is what I’ve tried to represent.”

The installation is called ‘Atomised’ and can be viewed at New Leaf Farm until the end of January. Gillett said he called it ‘Atomised’ because he liked “the duality of the word".

“Atomised can mean the complete destruction of matter, which is what they will do to these beautiful meadows,” Gillett explained.

“And it can mean the deconstruction of something into its separate elements, which is what I’ve tried to represent.”