A Thousand Words for Weather / Senate House
According to one researcher, 9 out of 10 Brits have talked about the weather in the past six hours. So it seems like some kind of evil Squid Game sequel to situate an art installation about the weather in a place where talking out loud is outwardly frowned upon.
Senate House Library on the UCL campus contains 2 million books, 50 special collections and 1,600 archival collections. Until the end of March 2023 it will also host A Thousand Words for Weather, an audio installation scattered throughout three floors. The pinnacle is a small room with a view where you can read and listen to those thousand words (Image 3 + video). Unfortunately, if I had to pick just one to describe it, I’d choose “underwhelming”.
It’s a shame, because the concept itself feels as full of potential as the moments after a storm: audio recordings of, and about, weather are played based on real-time Met Office stats. This is clearly an installation that I suspect (and hope) will be more rewarding for the natural inhabitants of the rooms. Students and researchers are more likely to have an extended exposure to the nuances and subtle changes as the sounds shift and react to actual weather data. Though I can only imagine the shock and annoyance for anyone unaware of the daily 53-minute broadcasts they pump through the reading room! (Image 4)
For someone like me, however, just popping in and eavesdropping on rainfall for a minute or two wasn’t worth the £5 visitors fee. I did, however, find an upside. The price of admission also enabled me to freely wander round an Art Deco classic.
Senate House was completed in 1937 by architect Charles Holden, who also designed a number of London Underground stations. It’s imposing exterior was the inspiration for Orwell’s ‘Ministry of Truth’ in the book 1984, and it’s interiors can be seen in many films including The Dark Knight Rises and No Time to Die. Take one look at the grand, double height marble foyer and you’ll understand why (Image 5).
I honestly can’t recall the last time I was in a library, but I eagerly got lost wandering multiple floors of books, stacked floor to ceiling on shelf after shelf after musty smelling shelf. Smartphones and the internet age haven’t yet rendered libraries obsolete, but they have relegated them to specialist circumstances. Which is a shame, because they physically and visually reinforce the magnitude of information that exists in the world in a way you simply can’t appreciate when it’s instantly at your fingertips while sitting on the toilet.
Then again, there’s something to be said for immediacy. I’ve no idea how long it would have taken me to find all the facts for this article had I chosen to use the library itself. Certainly a lot longer than I spent wandering around admiring all the architectural details (Images 6-10).
A Thousand Words for Weather can be experienced until 25 March 2023.
Visit the official project website or follow @artangel_ldn on Instagram for more information about this project, including visitor information and to purchase tickets (£5).
Visit the Senate House website or follow @senatehouselib on Instagram for more information about the Library.