Read Me Notes

'Sand' is a new work by Welfare State International created to bridge the gap between two millennia.

The work is part of '100 Days' a celebration in two halves. The first half, 'Letting Go' concentrates on the last 2000 years, but more specifically the last 100 years and seeks to bring into focus the things we are leaving behind, the things that we should remember and the things that we should remember to forget. The second part 'New Journeys' focuses on building bridges and setting up new thinking and ideas for the next x thousand/hundred/fifty/years.

'Sand' takes the form of an indoor Winter Garden of sculptural images, compelling symbols, chasing shadows and sand driven mechanisms presided over by the Story Telling 'Keeper'/s

These web pages are my reactions to the work created by the team of artists working on the 'Sand' Winter Garden, from initial notes, through construction to completion. This screen based offshoot, this piece of electric sand, is by no means a replacement for, or representation of the real thing. This is just an opportunity to get some of the ideas behind 'Sand' passed on to a wider, locationless audience.

In the course of this project I have digitally sampled original images, gadgets and sounds created by John Fox, Hannah Fox, Daniel Fox, Rob Hill and Vivien Mousdall.

Simon Byford Dec 1999