Anyone who has worked in a large scale production environment knows how if just one thing goes out of kilter (a registration hole 1.5mm out across a full manufacturing run say) or one part of the production line breaks down, the whole process grinds to a halt, with only tiny little jobs here and there being possible. So. You’re working to a tight deadline and you have people waiting around. Not what you’re after. We had that experience as we began the full assembly of the Bus-Tops installations the week before last, with some frustrating and seemingly impassable barriers along the way.

BUT. Everyone involved has pulled together remarkably, and we are now in full swing. With Toby and Tuur teaching at Goldsmiths Design Dept. 2 or 3 days a week we’re pulling shifts on a schedule along with Matt (who we hired out of Goldsmiths 2 summers ago) and our 4 unflappable interns. We lost about 2 weeks in production time due to faulty laser cutters and various other annoying things, but we’re doing our best to ramp up and fill the time so we have everything in place for the 1st of January.

We now have enough sub-structure/end-plate and other fabricated elements to make 15 installations, and today we are on track to finish 2. Further fabrication is happening as we do our assembly work so fingers crossed we’re over the major technical hurdles now and into the (engineering) end-game. Here are some sneaky peeks at the work in progress:

It of course is a very gratifying feeling to see the physical results of a 2 year project, but in a way the Bus-Tops project hasn’t yet begun. For us, the team, the engineering and behind the scenes work has been what the project has been about for 2 years now. It’s truly an odd realisation to know that in fact the project only begins for everyone else in a month or so. We shift from the conceptual to the real. From the idea of being able to display your art in a new way and new space, to actually doing it. I’m both terrified and excited at once

Alfie

P.S: In other news, we are posting here on the blog more often but do keep track of us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bus-Tops/149451738429034 where we tend to post galleries and day to day stuff.