The Brexshit Machine is an LED artwork based on text extracted from The Brexit Lexicon (2016-2020), a unique compendium of the most common terms that have shaped the discussions of Brexit in both politics and the media. The work was created to mark 31 January 2020, the day that the UK’s membership of the European Union ended and the start of the “transition period”.
The Brexit process dominated Britain’s news agenda between 2016 and 2020, and one notable language trend during this period has been the creation of new terms using the letters ‘Brex-’ as a prefix. Notable examples include the word ‘Brexiety’ (the feeling of unease over Britain’s uncertain political future), ‘Brextremist’ (someone with extreme views about Brexit), and ‘Brexodus’ (mass emigration as a result of Brexit). The Brexshit Machine scrolls through a list of these new words in a continuous loop.