A light show cast underneath the length of the railway overpass depicts the number and movements of passengers waiting on a train platform overhead as figures of iridescent coloured light. Visitors can move among the luminous passengers and connect to their journey.
Amicabiliter Interventus comes from how a computer translates "social media" and, by giving us a window into the movements and anonymous interactions of passengers standing on a train platform, this work explores themes of isolation and connectivity.
On an average day on Sydney trains 1,018,240 people come into contact with each other, 41,260 through Circular Quay. Where are they going? Where have they been? What's their story? What would happen if we could inhabit their space, understand their journey?
Through mapping the movements of passengers standing on a platform, artist Stuart Aslett gives the viewer the opportunity to briefly stand in the footsteps of a stranger before the next train comes along.
And, just for a moment, the separate journeys of two strangers is replaced by the concept of two passengers fleetingly on a common journey.