Linked: a landmark in sound, a public walk of art

摘要

In 2003 a new permanent public art installation, Linked, by Graeme Miller, was estab-lished along a four-mile motorway in East London. This is a discussion of Linked by Toby Butler, followed by Graeme Miller's account of his work in their conversation about the project. I am getting off the tube at Leyton. It is nearly four o'clock on a cold autumn day. Soon the narrow platform will be filling with schoolchildren. I hurry up the steps to the exit. I put the battery that I took out of the smoke alarm this morning into the tiny radio receiver. I put the spongy headphones on. No sound, but the sponge helps warm up my ears. I walk through the ticket office, and out on to the street. Mostly I can see traffic - cars, buses, taxis. I take a few steps along the pavement. Suddenly I hear music, a voice in my head. I am startled - of course, the headphones. They are working already! A violin is softly playing two notes repetitively. A male voice is talking about a plan for a supermarket — he says it will obliterate the local economy. He says his house will be made into a motorway. I am looking down on an enormous Asda. It looks like it has just opened. I realise I am standing on a big road bridge. It passes over the Central line and a busy motorway. The traffic is barely moving on one side of the carriageway.