Thompson Dry Dock

Andy Henry

Built at the turn of the 20th century, Thompson Dry Dock was at the centre of Harland & Wolff's construction of the White Star Liners. This dramatic, cavernous space lies dormant as a monument to Belfast's former ship-building industry in an area ear-marked for huge redevelopment.

This digital sculpture concept plays on post-industrial tensions between the dock as the cutting edge of the ship-building industry and the ongoing re-purposing of the land as homes and offices. The dock is a void that we would expect land or sea to fill. By skinning the void with a suspended film of ferrofluid (iron particles suspended in a fluid), violent magnetic reactions give voice to the old industry, enabling it to contend with the modern world.