Above and Beyond

‘I’m less interested in its importance in terms of British history, though, than in its presence, its scale, its height, its engineering – the idea of raising a figure up so high and that he’s been there for almost two hundred years. When you see a figure elevated like that, you can’t help but reflect on yourself as a solitary person in the world.’

This fascination led to his installation for London Design Festival 2025: What Nelson Sees – a project he created in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture and describes as a ‘lifelong goal’. ‘As a child I used to wonder: what would you see if you were up at that height? That curiosity has always stayed with me.’ His idea is to let visitors share Nelson’s vantage point, then rewind back through the decades to get a feel for London a century ago and then fast forward into potential futures, brought to life with Google AI.

Cocksedge recalls his own rare ascent. ‘It’s not an understatement to say that being lifted up to stand next to Nelson was one of the most exciting things I’ve done in a long time. Nelson towered over me. It felt like hovering, floating above the city. The sounds of Trafalgar Square – conversations, singing, voices – seemed to gather in a strange way, almost like through a lens. It was surreal, but at the same time it brought this incredible sense of calm, and that’s what I want the installation to capture.’

The physical structure echoes the monument itself. ‘Structurally, the work is formed from six-metre tubes that collide to create a freestanding form, allowing people to look through it like a telescope,’ he explains. ‘The fact that it was made in metal, by hand, through welding, felt important. The patination links back to weathering steel, the kind you see on ships and in shipbuilding, so it has that dialogue with maritime history.’

When it came to the visuals, Cocksedge acted as curator working with Flow, Google’s AI filmmaking tool - powered by Veo to bring to life moving vignettes of London’s past and and in consultation with Ricky Burdett, Director of Cities and Urban Age at the London School of Economics, envision a speculative future of London.

‘Our role was to support Paul’s experimentation with AI in his creative process to realise this layer to the installation otherwise impossible.’ Text based prompts were crafted with the help of Google Gemini and then fed into Flow it to bring these visions to life.

‘But the results are astonishing and the possibilities are vast.’ AI’s potential, he admits, inspires both excitement and trepidation. ‘I hope that the more people are aware of AI, the more we can shape how it is used and the role we want it to play in our lives.’

At its heart, though, the work is about perspective. ‘This piece is about celebrating London as an ancient city that has endured, adapted, and evolved through countless changes. By rewinding time 200 years, the installation highlights the joy and richness of the past, the fashions, the music, the transport, the architecture, the hustle and bustle of life in different periods. And by looking forward, it also opens up a space to imagine possible futures for the city. I think it’s healthy for us as humans to have perspective: to understand where we’ve come from and where we’re going.’