As a small child the first thing on the TV news I truly understood was the launch of sputnik. We saw no flames or fiery launch, just an announcement and the sound of the eerie beep broadcast by the satellite and picked up by Jodrell Bank radio telescope. I was a child of the space age, I became fascinated by space, a dreamer of big dreams, I spent my time building spaceships, I imagined setting off alone to explore the universe. I was lucky, my mother, Yolande, was an artist and my father, F G Friedlander, a mathematician at Cambridge University, they encouraged me to pursue my interests and it was while I was at Sussex University studying physics, I discovered my true calling.

It was a visit to a great exhibition of kinetic art at the Hayward Gallery in London that inspired me to switch direction. I completed my physics degree and went on to take another in Fine Art at Exeter College of Art. After graduating for a second time there was a lull as I came to terms with the realisation the art world was not yet receptive to the idea of scientific artists, I took a long detour into stage lighting and stage design. My main area of interest was avant-garde music and this proved a great training and source of inspiration for much of my later work where the emphasis has often been on the creation of large scale and ephemeral site specific installations.