Joanna Langford’s miniature cityscape is made from old computer keyboards and is lit by hundreds of tiny LEDs, run off a computer programme. The Wellington sculptor recycles discarded materials and allows them to dictate her approach. She works intuitively, strengthening her structures as they pile up. Here, her keyboards buildings are supported by bamboo skewers and glue strands. The scene implies a narrative—city dwellers going about their everyday routines. Langford borrows her title—The Beautiful and the Damned—from that of F Scott Fitzgerald’s famous 1922 novel. Her scene reflects a similar ambivalence, combining glitzy-city excitement with glitzy-city alienation and disenchantment.
