Go straight to Gaol, do not pass go . .

Nether Stowey Town Gaol, the plaque can just be seen on the wall inside.

Last week I installed this laser etched slate in Nether Stowey town Gaol, (with full permission I will add) The local school in Nether Stowey, along with Dunster First and Porlock St Dubricius created poetry with me and Jenny Mash by walking in the landscape in much the same way as Coleridge and Wordsworth did 200 years ago. The weather was terrible, but none of the schools said no (thankfully), and the poems reflect this with phrases like numb, icy, and frosty!

Close up of the slate.

I took their poems and wrapped them up in two different ways, firstly they were made in to QR codes, and secondly I made a word cloud for each school. On the slate here in Nether Stowey, which is at the foot of the Coleridge Way walk, I decided to fuse these two formats together and give people a taste of the poems and harvested words all on one piece of slate.

So why wrap the words up into QR codes at all, why don't you just print the poems for everyone to read with or without a smart phone. Well it is a good question of which there are several answers but mainly it comes down to the oddly inquisitive nature of people. Everyone wants to know what's behind the door, or what the skeleton key may open, and in the same way I have hidden words in plain sight. All you need to do is scan them with your smart phone (apps are free) and the poetry will be revealed.

The Gaol and plaque

This technique of obfuscation is common, whether it's journey into a church to see the light streaming through the stained glass onto the alter, or a simple village treasure trail. The QR code is another method of placing the 'product' around a metaphorical corner. 

This in turn asks the reader to expend energy for a reward, in the treasure hunt the reward is in completion and putting this small task on the reader to scan the QR codes in my opinion embodies a greater worth in the work itself. If you have to travel to view, then that extra effort imbues the work with greater worth.

Alternately a cynic would say that funding is only every granted for new projects, never for repeats of old ones, and just doing poetry workshops with pupils, though great fun to do would not receive the funding rubber stamp.

Either way I have enjoyed creating this art work, the pupils have been brilliant, the teachers fabulous, I think the final art work looks stunning, though I did spend some time scratching my head working out how to deliver the product 'beautifully' and on budget.

So these slates are installed, along with the three pieces at the Jubilee hut (Webbers Post, Dunkery Beacon) And all are installed with brass screws I may add, so we don't get iron staining.

The tiles should be pretty hardy, the most likely damage will be through vandalism, which will eventually consume them all in time, and is always a problem with public art. I have taken some time photographing them in situ where they look A1, and lets hope they stay that way for quite a while.

Installation at The Jubilee Hut

Many thanks ARTlife for saying yes to this project, I have a couple more QR codes to install (Watery Lane) and also have some for my Somerset Art Week exhibition in September where I can help you scan the codes and reveal the poems.