Jess Jones-Berney plays the spy game from great heights thanks to the London Eyes Project.
Most of us should be pretty familiar with the London Eye by now. It has graced our skyline for over a decade, no doubt giving Big Ben a Napoleon complex and even earning itself a coveted spot at Legoland. But considering it offers prime time position for an uninterrupted view across London, for me it's always seemed a little detached from the cultural patchwork of creativity upon which it stands. Until The London Eyes Project, that is. As the brainchild of Goldmiths MA Art and Politics students, Jennifer Maksymetz and Henry Proctor, this alternative guide delivers a soundscape slice of the hustle and bustle below.
You can sit back and play George Orwell for half an hour, contemplating the robotic musings of CCTV operators intermingled with grass root ramblings from eight London-based artists who've opened the lid on their intimate observations.
As we board our bubble and press play, twinkly ambient music like downtime in mum's yoga class kicks in, over which we're told that roughly 1.5 million cameras in London have got their beady little eyes glued to our every move. Cue Truman Show paranoia. As our bubble ascends with the pace of a disabled snail, the monotone voice of platform operator 17 draws our attention to Charing Cross Station across the river. We're taken beneath its shiny pimped up postmodern attire with the whistling sounds of trains departing to the tune of children's voices. Operator 17 trails two ruffians kicking a ball along the platform before being given the reverse victory salute.
This gives way to an airy fairy voice reeling off stream of conspicuous poetry about the kind of surveillance that “knows your move even before you decide”. It's peppered with some lovely alliteration like “perfectly positioned to purposefully pry” and “candy camera smile”, glossing over the somewhat sinister sentiment.
During our cycle we're introduced to CCTVs with a sense of humour. From the sociable sort delivering slow panning waves to the more judgemental Operator 2, whose pregnant state prompts zooming in on every pram passing by and criticising its contents. It's as funny as it unnerving because I'd never really considered the shrewd eyes behind the cameras, laughing at all the scenarios we think go unobserved. One robotic voice even admits “I don't bother watching real TV any more because this is enough for me.”
Another artist chimes in, asking us to do the unthinkable and ignore all surrounding architecture to “find someone who thinks they are unobserved”. She suggests honing in on a tourist or dog – a difficult feat for a girl reliant on contacts – but there's something exhilarating about playing the spy game from this height. It's also fitting that the guy I'm trailing is making his way along Westminster Bridge towards Britain's hub of control and surveillance, the Houses of Parliament.
Following this comes a detailed description of Angela Connor's bronze memorial in the triangular shaped Cromwell Gardens opposite the V&A, calling to mind the pockets of London that hold personal resonance. And then to possibly my favourite part of the tour: two Thespian voices that'd give Stephen Fry a run for his money regale us with hustle bustle tales of The Strand, Fleet Street and Covent Garden. It's a musical maelstrom of horses trailing through mud, barking tradesmen and salacious women, conjuring an enlivened London of the past, and alluding to an unrelenting pulse that still radiates through the London of today.
All in all this audio guide is a pot pourri of perceptive anecdotes, the kind you'd expect from incisive pub chat before speech becomes slurred, offering a medley of musings that add yet another dimension to the city.
Download the London Eyes Project here: http://www.thelondoneyes.com/
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