81 x 41 cm (94 x 55 cm framed) 2011
The daisy is there to signify Turing’s interest in morphogenesis, which apparently started very young: his mother sent a sketch to Alan, at school, of him trailing a hockey stick as he bends over to examine a daisy plant while some other boys are shown in the background waiting for him to snap out of it and re-join the game. Whilst at Bletchley he was observed wandering about peering at plants in the grounds and surrounding countryside and counting their petals, stamens and leaves. Almost every aspect of our lives today is touched, often transformed, by actualisations of what Turing envisaged. We also have access to alternative digital worlds, and the inclusion of an avatar in the design is an acknowledgement of all that. I wondered who Turing might have chosen as his avatar, had he lived to enter such a world, and decided on his great contemporary, John von Neumann, whom Turing met at Princeton, but who possessed an acceptable sexual orientation and a charming social poise that Turing lacked.
Location: Turing College, University of Kent at Canterbury