Judy Spark
Tuning To Ether
Judy Spark explores the contrasts and parallels that exist in our experience of alienating technological culture and nature, where we are no longer fully comfortable with either. There are fascinating facts about Cupar’s relationship with technology to be found in the town’s history including one of the town’s “listening stations” run by the Foreign Office which existed at Hawklaw, just outside Cupar, for the purpose of gathering transmitted material to be examined by the code-breakers at Bletchley Park. In conducting further enquiry into this and other apparently little-known aspects of Cupar’s place in radio/telephone history, an interesting backdrop to present-day Cupar was formed, more easily connected by the forests of TV aerials, masts, satellites, digital networks, and wireless technologies that characterize, and sometimes frustrate, contemporary life. It was hoped that the work would add another dimension to the experience of both Cupar residents and visitors alike, while shedding some light on the range of ideas it explored. Judy’s research and work formed an installation in Cupar’s County buildings which was installed in the landing area and the JP Courtroom.