Unit: Connection

“Connection” was an exploration of the concerns around connectivity in Bairds Brae and how to mobilise action to communicate the island’s potential as a social space. A space to reclaim during Test Unit and demonstrate it’s importance and value in (re)kindling and (re) discovering the bonds that once were made on the site when it was a pub, a social club and bingo hall.

The concept was the ‘Bairds Brae Beacon’ – an installation to connect with local community through the act of making and bringing people together. The form was inspired by a combining the idea of a zoetrope (referencing the old cinema on site), a communal table for people to gather and a performance space. The zoetrope is turned by inserting wooden ‘keys’ into the poles that were distributed to local community groups with an invitation to join the opening party and participate in a workshop to create images for each of the 4 screens on the beacon structure. The piece establishes a natural clearing within the site and casts colour and light onto the surrounding trees and vegetation.