D is for Daemon

On Xmas Eve 2013 it was reported that the 'D' in the Goldsmiths logo on the roof of the Ben Pilmott Building had gone missing. There was speculation that it had been stolen and I wondered whether an art student was responsible from the Fine Art course.

Later it became clear that the storms before Xmas were to blame. The building had been suffering from bits of it falling off to the extent that a protective hoarding had been erected above the entrance to shield passers by. Someone had then decided that it would be safer to remove the entire logo to avoid the public relations disaster that death from flying letters would bring. I took the picture below in January on a hunt for suspended shoes.

 

The loss of such an advertisement must have been difficult for the university but it reminded me of something that had happened in my degree show in 2011. 

I had left no room for error in creating the 3D map of everything that was to be printed onto silk. There had been storms as I put the final touches to the computer model in my room in student accommodation in Brockley. With only two days to go, just before the final renders were made I noticed that my model of the Ben Pilmott Building (where my studio had been for three years), that was situated at the center of the map, had mysteriously lost its Goldsmiths logo. The virtual objects were still there but were invisible, something that had happened before for no reason that I could understand. There was no time to rebuild it, and the few attempts to get it back failed. It bothered me, because it was a strong indicator for people to recognize the building. But it was too late. So I put it down to Elves. That map was meant to be a framework for the Elves to run and do there thing. And the nature of Elves is mischievous. They are anarchists. They wished for no corporate logo in their playground. So that, as my Grandmother liked to say, was that.

I printed the map.

http://www.theleopard.co.uk/the-curious-case-of-the-missing-d/