A Stone’s Throw Away was a public artwork which examined the relationship between two opposing locations, each uniquely representative of the City of Glasgow: The historic Govan Graving Docks (or Dry Docks) and the nearby redevelopment of the Pacific Quay. These two sites and the communities that surround them have remarkable similarities, each representing an important period of Glasgow’s industrial and economic wealth: The now derelict Graving Docks and the buildings of the Pacific Quay redevelopment (including The Glasgow Science Centre, BBC, and the Digital Hub) – each in their time either were or are representations of the cutting edge of industry, and thus also represent the economic power driving development. These places are set in sharp contrast to each other both physically and historically.
One component of A Stone’s Throw Away was the Govan Graving Beacon, an automated light placed on the Govan Graving Docks. The public was invited to send the beacon messages via SMS text, which it translated into Morse code and broadcast via signal light towards the Glasgow Science Centre, Govan Riverside Community and surrounding area.
A Stone’s Throw Away was a collaboration between t s Beall, Ben Dembroski and Benjamin Rush as part of the Atypical Root public art trail, and The 2010 Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art.
