The Commuter

The world of “The Commuter” is an ode to the British Rail Class 313 Train which I used to take between Moorgate to Haringey, and up and around the Herts Loop. The virtual space of the train cabin becomes a potential site for the exchange of ideas and for social encounters with strangers.

When I was asked to build my studio in the cloud, I thought about how I have not had a physical artist studio for years, but instead I seem to have done so much of my art making whilst commuting to and from a workplace. I’ve always been fascinated by trains and the commuter train has always been a popular subject for virtual simulations - the train sim is a virtual model train set that you can play with anytime on your computer even if you don’t have the space to build and play with physical model trains. Model trains capture a slice of the socio-economic and historical realities in cities and suburban areas, and can become a vehicle for train model hobbyists to explore geography, history, and engineering.