Wesley Goatley and Georgina Voss responded to Milton Keynes’ past and present, from Bletchley Park’s code-breaking role to today’s MK:Smart.

The artists created two installations and an online piece which focused on how Milton Keynes appears through the data that it generates.

In centre:mk, a projected representation of Milton Keynes formed the heart of an immersive experience where audiences watched live data collected from sources including roundabouts, buses, water and power distribution. Locally-recorded bell sounds responded live to the data, creating a visual and sonic experience which changed with every visit.

At The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park, the artists captured and presented live data from commercial aircraft whose movements underpin the international capacity of ‘smart cities’.

”'I worked with Maria on the Ground Resistance initiative, a multi-site installation created by artists Wesley Goatley and Georgina Voss in the context of the Milton Keynes International Festival (MK:IF). The installation provides an immersive, multi-sensorial experience where the audience engages with the notion of ’smart city’ by being exposed to visual and sonic representations of live data transmitted from sensors in various parts of the city. In her role as Creative Producer for MK:IF, Maria was a key member of the team, co-ordinating the planning and execution of all activities and basically making sure that we were able to progress successfully from an initial vague-ish concept to a highly successful and ground-breaking realization. The project took almost a year, from the initial discussions to the unveiling of the work at the festival and during this period I was very impressed by Maria’s ability to keep the project moving forward, stay on top of the many different challenges associated with such a unique project, while at the same time maintaining a positive and relaxed atmosphere in the team. It was a real pleasure to collaborate with her and I hope there will be other opportunities to work together again in the future.'

Enrico MottaProfessor of Knowledge Technologies, Knowledge Media Institute, Open University, partner in Ground Resistance