'I'd associated public art with sculpture dotted about the landscape and I'd never wanted to do that,' says Bob, a London-based British artist born as Patrick Brill in 1963. 'I'm more interested in how people understand their surroundings, where they are and what they can do; how art can improve their lives and be a language for understanding the world. So a lot of the projects I've worked on have involved working with the public rather than producing thingsfor the public. This is what I wanted to do when I was asked if I'd consider curating the Thames Gateway project.'