Macdonald, A., 2016.

Car conversations

Anna Macdonald (b. 1973)
Car conversations, 2010-2016
Installation with sound

Car conversations is a project about space; the space between leaving and arriving, the collective effect of individual journeys and the play of space made miniature. The work is a continuation of the artists interest into the way basic movement patterns such as moving from 'here to there' or 'getting slower' form the basis of the way we construct meaning.

It involves over 2000 cars that the artist, along with help from her two children, has found at car boot sales and charity shops over the last 6 years. Different versions of the work have been installed along a historic city wall at night, running up a gallery staircase, through a shopping centre and along the pavements of a half-mile road running down to the Thames.

The sound you can hear is a series of recordings of people in their cars on the way to work, school, shops or holiday. The recordings were made by people living in the area local to each installation of the work and over the years a range of accents, ages and types of journey have slowly accumulated.