Preserving community stories through sustainable art.

For this Park Royal installation, Raf was inspired by how many different forms of data exist, how information is captured and how the history of a local community can be reflected during its transformation.

He began by simply listening: first recording the everyday ambient sounds of the community, followed by audio interviews with more than 120 local residents and business owners. Raf was inspired to first capture sound because of its ephemeral and fleeting nature.

Informed by what he heard, Raf translated those recordings into binary code and audio waveforms—data in a new medium—and manipulated them to create forms that evoked microprocessing chips, maps and landscapes. These designs became the giant installation covering the data centre’s six-story façade.

After many iterations and much layering, the finished piece explores what data—something we use daily but rarely visualize—can look like when abstracted in a moment of time. The final artwork consists of perforated aluminium panels which cover the facade facing the adjoining park.

11 Million Dots sits in harmony with the surrounding environment. The flow of dots blends into the trees below and sky above. Hints of green appear through the perforations, seasonally and from different angles.

Reflecting the spirit of collaboration and tied to a specific neighbourhood, Park Royal, this artwork lives on a Vantage facility housing the technology that enables and connects today’s digital world.