Client: The City of Cape Town  Medium: Vinyl on glass

We were commissioned to create 6 artworks on the new rapid transport bus stations in Cape Town. Our approach involved creating striking infographics using data related to the area the station was located.

When your ship comes in. This information graphic is a playful visual comparison of Lotto winnings vs ships coming in to Cape Town harbour – a play on the English saying ‘When my ship comes in’. The comparison of these two values, that are not in fact related, highlights the superstition and idea of ‘luck’ that surround our aspirations ideas of success.

The bus station is located near the old Milnerton racecourse, one of the oldest horse racing tracks in the country. It’s no longer used for horse racing but it remains an influential part of the area’s history. Although horse racing is still a popular betting sport, games of chance like the Lotto have surpassed it in popularity.

Like the other artworks, it is positioned at the entrance of the bus station, so it’s been designed to be viewed as one walks past it into the station. The graphics are playful, in keeping with the subject matter and the repeating lines of the graph, representing ships entering the harbour, make a wave-like pattern that contrasts with the bright solid yellow of the circles representing Lotto winnings. The data shows monthly Lotto winnings and ships entering the harbour over 3 years (2007 – 2010) as a percentage of the total winnings for that period. The data was sourced from the National Lottery and Transnet.

For detailed overview of the project please visit: Hannah Williams (co-colaborator)  »