It’s amazing isn’t it, you are on the metro everyday and you press the button without thinking and the doors just open. Do you ever think about it when you press the button? He answers “No” and she laughs.

During my residency, Tyne & Wear transport were considering how they might “make public transport sexy” to attract users away from cars and onto metro trains. During research I visited the engineering yard and conversed with staff, where I filmed a male engineer explaining to me how he was fixing the train doors. From the footage I produced a collage of stills showing the engineer “Ian Talking” and (me) “Catherine Listening” - including an edited transcript of the flirtatious conversation between us.

The resulting digital images and text were exhibited on the transport system via cigarette cards (distributed by artist throughout metro trains for a period of one week); on poster sites within metro stations throughout Tyne & Wear; within the Metro Newspaper (in the Tyne & Wear transport regular news slot). The material and it’s method of distribution were intended to be suggestive of the potential for ‘chance encounters’ when using public transport.

Arts Council England NE Graduate Placement, residency and site specific installation; Supported by Art on Transport, Tyne & Wear Metro system and the Metro Newspaper, 2003.