MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION

"(...) My fellow students and I meet Tim Hutchison, co-founder of the London based creative studio Bark Design, in between lectures. Entering the London College of communications Artrium Gallery, we find ourselves faced by two lines of massive red letters on transparent slotted track panels: "May I have your attention". No "please". No question mark. It's the last bit of our lunchtime, we didn't have any time to grab a sandwich and the title of Bark Designs typographic installation feels brash.

Stomachs are rumbling as Tim takes up a fairly extensive introduction to his project. The installation is based on the examination of language in our everyday surroundings. In most public places, we are surrounded by a crossfire of communication snippets. Tim and his colleagues took sound recordings at different places and build up an archive of audio-probes. What had been the starting point of their research would later serve as content for the installation itself. Furthermore, Tim assures that the collection of sound recordings provided valuable insights into the field of verbal communication. He mentions the alteration of language in reference to site, function and transmission. The creative potential of decontextualised conversation fragments. The possibility of rearrangement within new contextual frameworks. The whole thing started out as a research project five years ago, which seems to make big words somewhat necessary. Especially when there are no big news. (...)"