Hundreds and Thousands
Pigment injected polyester
700 Linear Metres
2021-22
Hundreds and Thousands wraps 700 metres of The Tide’s glass balustrades, creating a ribbon of undulating colour. The installation contemplates the subtle nuances of light in this unique riverside location as we transition from season to season. This work is part of an ongoing exploration of colour and scale, using the walkway as an evolving platform.
Hundreds and Thousands pays homage to artworks geography and proximity to the Greenwich meridian line by behaving as a sundial, therefore, allowing people to see the changing light depending on the time of day and season. The multiple reflective glass surfaces adorned with jewel-like multicolours reflect people and the surroundings, encouraging and promoting movement around The Tide and making a work that feels like it ‘belongs’.
The architecture and design of The Tide, as well as how the space is used by the public, has influenced the intricate design to allow people a fluid and ever-changing experience of the work. Selected colours and repeated visuals have been used to augment and enhance the space and visitor experience. This site-specific work aims to create a new space for exploration and discovery. It depicts and symbolises a physical and metaphorical meeting point of both colours and people. This immersive installation helps join together the different paths across the space. The luminous multicoloured stripes collectively become a rhythmic cacophony of colours, creating a mesmerising mass when viewed from all angles.
The colour palette aims to encourage positive associations and memories of colour. West makes these colour choices instinctively and intuitively, experimenting in colour mixing to focus on the interaction of colours as well as carefully composing a spatial balance between geometric elements and forms.
Hundreds and Thousands by Liz West commissioned by Greenwich Peninsula, on The Tide at Greenwich Peninsula Photo credit: Charles Emerson