Code and Machine – Bletchley Park

Unseen Technology

I have an interest in industrial and technological heritage and this often inspires pieces of work. I focus in on objects, such as aircraft or early computers that were at the cutting edge of technology at the time or were the cusp of change.

Bletchley Park

I was lucky enough to visit Bletchley Park and see the Bombe Machine in operation. The Bombe was designed to discover some of the daily settings for the Enigma Machines. I was fascinated to see the replica Bombe Machine working, the rows of colour-coded rotors all turning to try to find a pattern in the code.

Resulting work

As a result of visiting Bletchley Park I produced a series of Drypoint and Carborundum prints based around the idea of codes, rotors and the search for patterns to find a breakthrough.