A 100 metre sculpture at Gateshead Interchange can now be seen from an unlikely angle thanks to Google’s map websites.
Opening Line by Danny Lane was commissioned by Nexus and completed in 2004 to mark the £7 million modernisation of the interchange, used by four million passengers a year. It consists of a long thin line of laser-cut steel and etched glass cut into a series of large ‘picture stories’. And the sculpture – or to be precise the shadow it casts on the road surface at Gateshead – is there for the whole world to see on Google maps. The satellite image Google is using is believed to have been taken on a sunny day in September 2008 while roads at the interchange were being resurfaced. Andy Bairstow, Nexus Communications Director, said: “There were about 10 days in which a brand new surface laid last year was being allowed to cure when no buses had driven on it. “The satellite must have captured the image then – and it was sunny enough to create an almost perfect silhouette of the work. “Nexus has commissioned 35 permanent pieces of art at Metro and bus stations in Tyne and Wear – but we never thought you’d be able to see one from space.” The Google map also shows a shadow cast by the Angel of the North, a few miles to the south, taken the same day. There are 35 permanent commissions on Metro and other public transport Tyne and Wear, while Nexus has also supported many temporary commissions over the years. New works include Canon, created by Sunderland University lecturer and artist Lothar Goetz and to be incorporated into the £20m rebuild of Haymarket Metro in Newcastle. It is also commissioning a number of artists to work with architects and engineers on the £7m refurbishment of Sunderland station’s platform areas which is now taking shape.
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