Drive Time

Samuel Padfield

The Harvey Centre / Gibberd Gallery, Harlow, 8–23 October 2022

How do you feel when you are travelling? Samuel Padfield presents an expanded idea of landscape in collaboration with Pervilion. This two-part exhibition in the Harvey Centre and the Gibberd Gallery confronts visitors with questions about where we’ve come from and where we are going.

To the thousands of people passing through the shopping centre daily, two cars on the ground floor may seem to have taken a wrong turn, as if GPS has led them up the garden path. This intervention, featuring reverse glass paintings on a Volvo C30 and Ford Fiesta, creates a route to Harlow's legacy of social space coupled with public art.

Drive Time is a platform for local voices. A wall-mounted text commissioned by Essex-based writer Rose Cleary explores the feeling of dissociation that you can experience as a passenger. Meanwhile a participatory audio piece in the form of a drive time radio show plays continuously in both locations, connecting passers-by and dedicated art audiences. It refers to a genre in flux, from an era when listeners were united in transit. Presented by BBC Essex DJ Paul Lovett, it features interviews with special guests and a dedicated hotline for track requests.

Listen to Drive Time

Press release / List of works

Installation views: Samuel Padfield, Drive Time (2022), The Harvey Centre, Harlow

Curated by Dorothy Feaver
A collaborative project by Samuel Padfield and Pervilion
Supported by the Henry Moore Foundation and Essex County Council Arts and Cultural Fund
With thanks to the Harvey Centre, Harlow College and Paul Lovett
Text by Rose Cleary
As part of the Sculpture Town Artist In Residence Programme with thanks to Harlow Art Trust, Pearson Education and Royal College of Art

Photography Grey Hutton

The Harvey Centre
Harvey Centre Approach
Harlow CM20 1XR

8am-10pm Mon-Sat
10am-5pm Sun

Gibberd Gallery
The Water Gardens
Civic Centre
College Square
Harlow CM20 1WG

11am-4pm Mon-Sat