London’s Largest Participatory Artwork Turns Local Voices into a Digital Tapestry

A new artwork that transforms the sounds and stories of west London into a vast coded mural has been revealed near Park Royal in Ealing. The installation, titled 11 Million Dots, has been created by artist Rafael El Baz and now stretches across the six storey facade of a newly built data centre. Covering about two thousand seven hundred square metres, it is thought to be the largest artwork of its kind in the city.

To create the piece, El Baz spent months collecting recordings from the neighbourhood. He captured the natural sounds of the area and conducted more than one hundred twenty interviews with residents and local business owners. The voices, background noise, and conversations were then translated into binary code and audio waveforms. These patterns were perforated into aluminium panels so that the building itself becomes a visual expression of data.

El Baz said that he wanted to explore how data, which shapes so much of daily life but is usually invisible, could take on a physical form. He explained that much of his work focuses on materials, sustainability, and the ways in which society often overlooks both objects and personal stories. By turning everyday sounds into a permanent installation, he hopes to give value to voices that are often unheard.

The artwork now covers one side of the Vantage Data Centers building and forms part of the London Design Festival. It appears as swirling grey patterns across the structure, creating the effect of a giant abstract canvas rising above the industrial landscape.

Justine Simons, London’s deputy mayor for culture and the creative industries, said the piece demonstrates the power of public art. She described it as something that animates the city, encourages conversations, and reflects the communities that live around it. She added that the transformation of the data centre in Acton and Park Royal shows how art can draw inspiration directly from the people, the environment, and the everyday movement of clouds, trees, and traffic.