Bus-Tops will be a public art installation on the roofs of bus shelters across London, inspiring wonder and creativity in unexpected places. LED panels will become canvases showcasing digital commissions by a range of established artists, as well as allowing Londoners to display their creativity, play games and express what is special about their London.
People will be able to submit and view artwork through a number of mediums including website and mobile applications. Using drawing toolkits, people can create images, text or animations for display on the panels. For those unable to view the roofs of bus shelters, the website will provide live updates of the artwork and the opportunity to construct personal 'routes' through the works.
Cutting edge technology will also allow the bus shelters to develop individual personalities, becoming ‘Viziters’ to the city in their own right in the run up to the Games. Over their period of stay, each Bus-Top shelter will develop a unique character through their relationships with each other, members of the public and participating artists.
The canvases will appear on the roofs of bus shelters across London from July 2011.
See the shortlisted entries for this region and read about the judging panel
Bus-Tops is a collaboration between Alfie Dennen and Paula Ledieu. Alfie is a technologist and artist, his most recent projects in collaborative art being Britglyph, The Big Art Mob (For Channel 4) and 'What Is The Question'. His interest in mass-collaboration started with the site We're Not Afraid, which he started in 2005 as a response to the 7/7 London Bombings, and since then he has worked on projects which explore public participation and have collaboration at their core.
Paula Le Dieu has a background in technology, media and theatre. She has been involved in facilitating creative communities since 2003 when she started working on the Creative Archive at the BBC. Since then she has designed and championed public participation tools and platforms. She is currently Director of Digital BFI at the British Film Institute.