Paris Correspondence School

I have sent in my piece today for the Paris Correspondence School project. This is a project initiated by Birmingham based curator Charlie Levine.
Artists have been invited to send in a postcard design, a pack will be collated from the entries, and Charlie will take these to Paris - here is the information given to selected artists:
'These cards based around the theme of correspondence, partnerships, interaction and collaboration will be used for interventions around the city as well as correspondence between me and the participating artists. These cards will then be exhibited in two exhibitions curated by me and Minnie Wiez in London and Birmingham with some partnership with Catalogue Magazine.'
Each of the participating artists will receive a pack containing all of the submitted cards, we will then engage in a correspondence activity with the other artists involved. I like the idea of entering into correxpondence with strangers, and always love receiving exciting items in the post.

My piece for this project has allowed me to revive a mini-project from 1998, when I was 20 years old. This is a bit about it:
In 1998 I spent a summer in Paris.
I rented a cabin on a boat on the River Seine, stood still for money outside St Georges Pompidou, and photographed Lovers under the Eiffel Tower.
My days were filled with the promise of romance, that never came to anything.
I sent myself love letters, which have never been opened.
The funny thing for me was another example of synchronicity. Just as I was involved in sending myself love letters, I went one evening to an art event on a boat on the Seine, and happened to meet a professional love letter writer. He was writing love letters for people at the opening, I asked him if he would write one for me, he thought I was weird and didn't want to do it - but I eventually persuaded him. He wrote it in French. I cannot remember what it, or any of the others said now, and they are still sealed.
Maybe I will open them one day, but not today.

Interrogation: West Bromwich

Yesterday I had a great meeting with Karl and Chloe at the Longhouse offices in West Bromwich, we were there to talk about Interrogation, and whether or not it can take place in a new place this year, or whether the programme can only really work in one place?

We talked about the successes of last year, what worked, and why - and what was not
so successful, and why that might have been, and therefore what could be tweaked if we were to do another Interrogation somewhere else.

We all agreed that in many ways, as a first outing for Interrogation, Walsall was a gift. The context, provided by the gallery, and the specific area to be investigated gave the artists something to really get their teeth into and respond to - and as a working environment, we were really, in many ways, sheltered. Somehow, despite being in a public square wearing moustaches and berets, we were not exposed to public scrutiny. The back drop of the gallery protected us.
Considering whether Interrogation could work in a town like West Bromwich we can see that there will be no easy graft job - this is an entirely new situation, requiring a new approach. West Brom has an art space, but it is not one that is well embedded in the hearts of the people there (unlike Walsall, where people were almost without exception, entirely positive and passionate about THEIR gallery). This means that the public in West Brom may not be quite so keen to pitch in, and get involved in projects instigated by artists on the street. Is this a reason not to do it?
No.
The question for me here is how do artists negotiate the difficult territory of a place where the majority of people there believe that contemporary art is not for them. It is something that I have come across and attempted to explore many times in Stoke-on-Trent, it is a difficult question, which I am very interested to continue to try to answer. The broad question then which we will be focusing on is; How do artists bridge gaps? Gaps in infrastructure, gaps between councils, governments and the public, gaps between the public and cultural activity...ad infinitum. Artists today are constantly finding themselves in the position of gap filler - how successful can we be in these situations? What does this mean for the artist? and what does it mean for the public? All of these questions, I believe can provide a strong context for exploration in West Bromwich. Especially in the context of a new art space (The Public) who are arguably struggling to find a foothold in the local community.
I had a good walk around West Brom after I left the meeting, and saw some of the examples of 'culture' in gaps. All over the country Council's are trying to find 'sticking plaster' solutions for our emptying out high streets. Empty shops and boarded up buildings can be found on every High Street in the U.K. and there are various gap filling approaches being explored. Many have been given to artists (rent free) for a period of time, while others have been boarded up, and then the hoardings used as a space for public display of artworks. These are all fantastic opportunities for artists - but what do the people of a place make of this usage? This is something we talked about in the meeting.The Timpson's key place, right in the centre of the West Bromwich high street has had images of an Italian Deli applied to its hoardings, perhaps in an attempt to suggest what could be done with the shop. It is of course better than a metal shutter, but is it appropriate for West Bromwich?

On a rainy grey day I could completely see the potential difficulties of intervening in the town, and I know that the choice of target area, and how the context is presented to the artists will be really important when negotiating that. There is real sensitivity needed to avoid looking like an explensive Deli in a Town with one of the worst unemployment rates in the country.

Walking around there are a lot of empty outdoor market slots, which is good, as if it rains on any of the mission days the artists will still be able to work outside.The busiest space is by the entrances to Kings and Queens square it is too busy to carry out missions there, as the artists are more likely to annoy people there than engage them. It could perhaps be better locating a target zone towards the top end of town, which is quite unpopulated at the moment (except by bird poo) I also noticed that the physical layout of the high street is really uncomfortable - lots of disturbances in the form of brick planters everywhere, which interrupt the rhythm of the walker. This was interesting.I did notice that a lot of people did look depressed, but that may have been the rain?I think rather than feeling that activities which reactivate the space (and people) cannot happen here, as it is such a gap to bridge - maybe the greater gap is what we are exploring...how far is too far? Are there places where art is inappropriate, where people just simply are not interested, or is it possible that art can reach the areas that others cannot reach? Perhaps, if Interrogation: West Bromwich goes ahead we will find out.Once we know either way I will update here...and then go on a reccy in West Brom to really explore the full context.

Trip to Liverpool

Dave and I went on a daytrip to Liverpool, to meet Lynda Morris - curator of the Picasso exhibition at Tate Liverpool and EAST international.
We were going there to speak to Lynda about EAST, and in particular the Norwich School of Arts involvement in it. This was a research trip as part of the R and D programme we have been working on for Conjunction 2010.

Conjunction is Stoke-on-Trent's contemporary art biennial, and is officially in it's second phase (though has actually been around for much longer really.) I was asked to join the Steering Group a few months ago, and through team development activities it has been identified that my role will be to consider engaging communities in the broadest sense, looking at a Live Art element for the biennial, and also ensuring full and proper evaluation is built in to the project. I am really excited to be on board.
While in Liverpool we had a look at the Global Studio show at the Bluecoat, and managed to see Rineke Dijkstra's 'I see a Woman Crying' at Tate (which I was really pleased about, as I really wanted to see this - the piece represents a brilliant way of engaging young people in the arts.) We also saw the most frightening amount of jellyfish I have ever seen in one place - in the Albert Docks.

Lynda was really interesting, and had a lot to tell us.
Lynda talked us through the early days of EAST and how they started small, and built each year on the last.
The links to the University were really important. They realised that there was a fantastic resource (great studio/exhibition space) that was not being used for a big chunk of time in the summer, and that EAST could benefit from that.
In year One they had £3,000 funding from the paper, and then asked that each artist who applied paid £10 - this really helped to fund the programme. This is certainly interesting, but is a difficult one for me. As a practising artist I rarely pay to enter a proposal for anything - and so this £10 would have certainly made me think about whether to apply or not - but I do think that it is a good way to generate some funds, and perhaps only the most serious artists would apply?
In year one none of the artists were paid, but each artist was offered a token £10 (which I guess is a good way of dealing with the thought of charging an entry fee).
Students from the University became technicians, which would have been a really good opportunity for them, and is something that happened in Conjunction 08 - although we did find it quite difficult to recruit.
Lynda stated that the emphasis of EAST was on 'bringing the people together - that it is the thinking of the artists that you are interested in, and you are making that available4 to the people around you.' I like this idea, as for me, the way that artists think through work is infinitely interesting.
It was also important that the economics and structure of the organisation be 'unconcealed' which I am also all for!Lynda had so much useful advice, and we really enjoyed meeting her. While we were talking we were approached by 'The People's Poet of Liverpool' who offered to write Lynda a poem.She asked for a poem about Picasso, which he obliged with. The title of the poem was 'Peace and Freedom' - which he write on the spot, and then recited for the grand sum of £5 - a bargain.We were really grateful to Lynda for taking the time to meet us, especially as it was the week that the show opened.When we went to get our train, we were told that there would be no train this evening to Stoke-on-Trent - due to vandalism, Sorry! and that was that, no offer of help to get home, and when I phoned the train company they said - give us a ring in the morning. It seemed that the train companies no longer take any repsonsibility for actually getting their passengers to their destinations. BRING BACK BRITISH RAIL!
We managed to get to Crewe, where Katie rescued us! We had such a good day.

Tatton Park Biennial

The other weekend we went on an AirSpace trip to the second Tatton Park Biennial. We were quite excited to go, as a few of the artists selected have exhibited at AirSpace over the last few years. Dave and Andy and I are also organisers of Conjunction (Stoke-on-Trent's contemporary art biennial) and are involved in the research and development phase at the moment for October 2010's biennial - so saw this as a bit of local(ish) research.
The 2008 biennial included lots of amazing works situated around the grounds of Tatton, but not in the building itself. This was the main difference - this year was a mixture. The first piece we came across was Helen Marten's Milk on White (the billboard) and Coveting Keratin (the lion). This piece felt incongruous in it's setting. The regal lion of course nods to the use of Lions as an emblem to the country's greatness - but here it is made of carved polystyrene, and is cut in half. There was a 'tag' on the back of the sculpture looking like a moustache or a signature. The lion looks toward the billboard - which shows a hand with some half invisible soap floating above it. The piece seems to discuss branding through the ages.
While wondering around the grounds we noticed the way that many of the trees are marked with these signs. For Common Ground one of the artists is creating a piece of work where the animals that live in the park will be represented by coloured squares, placed in suitable locations - we discussed signs of this kind as being a way of allowing the viewer an 'in' when reading the works.
We came across this piece by Fiona Curran. It seemed like a tree house, which is falling down - and does seem to have somehow landed in the tree. The piece is described as a folly, which I like, in terms of connecting to landscape architecture traditions of building wrecks as delights for rich landowners in their grounds. This is a modern take on this.

We enjoyed the mini mobile cinema, which was showing images from Tatton's history. We had a good look at how this was constructed - I want one.This is Jem Finer's Spiegelei - a camera obscura. Unfortunately it was just too sunny for us to really see anything inside this piece, which is a shame - but the pink windows on the way in were good.
This piece in particular got us talking. It is a great big iceberg, which Neville Gabie has transported from Greenland. This piece connects to both the history of the place and its current day situation. Tatton, like many other stately home, used to transport ice from the North Pole. In today's climate where sustainability and energy saving are top of the agenda this seems like a grand statement (carbon footprint of transporting this piece of ice must be huge). The large piece of ice is now on display in the glass shed - being refrigerated - the cold unit is itself being powered by solar power. We found the idea of the sun keeping a block of ice frozen really fascinating.
Ryan Gander had a number of pieces scattered about the grounds and house. This piece which was hard to photograph, being effectively behind two bits of glass (a window and a dome) was a mythical bird on display in the manager's office. A story around the piece has been constructed - setting up the 4th Baron of Egerton's 16 plumed bird of paradise.

The story is set up about the Baron as an explorer (a bit of a Darwin type) who was shamed - having 'discovered' this amazing creature on one of his voyages, which was later found to be a fake construction. I like the connection to history again here, the Victorian's fascination with discovering new things - whether real or fake is what is interesting here (and this follows up on the idea of the folly.)
We then made our way into the house to see the other works.
It was quite frustrating that we were told we could not take photographs inside, and then received mixed messages as some invigilators allowed us to photograph the contemporary art works - as long as we did not photograph the house! Why not let people document their visit to the house? Very strange. Anyway I was allowed to take an image of this piece which may have been interactive - it was a voting booth - but the please do not touch sign on it was confusing. I voted anyway. It asked whether something like this should stay in Tatton - and I voted no - the ethos of the piece has its roots in accessibility (I think) but the situation it is shown in here - where visitors are told off for photographing and touching things is the opposite of that.
I fully understand the need for Tatton to protect its assets by asking the public not to touch (things deteriorate beneath oily fingers) but at times this is at odds with the programme being set out by a contemporary arts festival happening within this historic site.
This piece, by Kate MccGwire was our favourite - we were told when looking at it that the artist originally wanted the public to touch it - which of course would not be allowed! Actually this did not spoil our enjoyment, even if the red coil rope may have spoilt our view. The piece is constructed of locally sourced feathers, belonging to birds which would traditionally have been cooked in these ovens, when the house was fully functioning. This monstrous mass spilling from the oven is at once beautiful and appalling.
We had a picnic in the grounds to discuss what we had seen before home. A few of the pieces we had really been looking forward to seeing were not working on the day we visited - Jamie Shovlin's Rough Cut/Cut Rough and Helen Maurer's Light Landing being two of those, this was a real shame. Overall we enjoyed our trip around the biennial - the works explore histories, stories, fable and constructed narrative. The true and the faked sitting together, with authenticity becoming irrelevant in the end. The artists have connected to the mythologies of the house and grounds in many different ways, I am already looking forward to next time.

Hanley Park Reccy

Today myself and a couple of the other AirSpace artists went on a reconnaissance mission in Hanley Park. The proposals for projects are due in on Wednesday (19th), and so we have just under a week to formulate our plans. I thought it might be useful to put my images and thoughts up, in case anyone is thinking of applying, and perhaps has not visited the park in a while.
I have had a few ideas already.
My first idea was really focused around the Bandstand, where Stan had told me about the swing bands from the early part of the 20th Century. I thought about repopulating and reviving the Bandstand - decorating with flower boxes, and bunting and organising for a brass band to play - trying to recreate the heyday of the park - and inviting the public to come along; bringing their deckchairs with them, and maybe even having a dance.
The second idea was in response to the Chartist's who used to campaign in the park early in the 20th century. George Howson, who gifted the bandstand to the park, was a Chartist. In the current political climate it seems relevant to utilise the methods used by the Chartists, who campaigned for electoral reform. I was thinking of creating a new character, 'The Candidate' who would have a soap box, a megaphone and campaign rosettes; and would go about the park delivering speeches, calling for reform of the way that arts and culture are integrated into developments in the city - becoming an advocate for the arts.I can't decide which one to work on, but perhaps I need to go with the one which can happen prior to the day (rather than the performance) so that I can focus on managing the programme over the two days.
I have been looking into the history and design of the park as well, and love the fact that Thomas Mawson designed it as an arts and craft park (from that era) and that the design follows those traditions. This makes it ever sadder to look at the state which many of the parks assets are in - broken terracotta, damaged lighting features, disused and boarded up pavilion, closed toilets, shattered paving.
In many ways having this arts event in the park may help to draw attention to the plight - I hope to consult the public on what they would like to see happening in the park as part of the project - and see this process as an investigation/consultation in itself. The public reaction to the artists and the art works will say a lot about what can and needs to be done. I feel that the spirit of neglect which hangs over the park explains the continuing vandalism and indifference. If there was a sense of pride and ownership over the park, perhaps people would be more likely to use the park - and take more of a stand against the vandals. I was asked last week if I was worried about the art works being vandalised. This is of course a concern, but will also be part of the investigation - if art works (and artists) are not safe over one weekend - then there really is a major problem which needs to be addressed.
I hope to ask the artists to try to record the public reaction and response to their presence - writing down comments made, and interactions experienced, as all of this will form the discussion around the vision of the park as an art park - within the document which we will produce.
Here are some of the features we came across which could become sites for intervention:

The Pavilion: one of the park buildings which are now boarded up, and cannot be used by the public. This building has asbestos problems, and would take quite a bit of cash to put right - but we think it could make a fantastic art gallery, and community workshop space, with a cafe attached.
The Pavilion is on a platform, reached by these steps, each of the three lots of steps have the distinctive terracotta brick, which was an important part of Mawson's design. The white vases were a gift to the park from William Henry Goss, a local pottery owner (owner of Falcon Works, Sturgess Street.) Most of the original vases are gone, and some have been replaced (as here) with reproduction copies, while others are missing altogether.
Looking towards the south from the pavilion we can see the damaged steps, and the bandstand. The bandstand is in reasonable condition, but could it do with some hanging baskets, and a band?
Some of the planting schemes stood out - dead palms surrounded by bawdy annuals. I somehow feel like this could do with some kind of attention?
The bridge linking the two sections of park, and crossing the Cauldon Canal, represents one of the most historically significant features of the park, and should be a demonstration of the regions industrial heritage - Mawson used local terracotta and had local firms make the beautiful red brick and tile feature. Today it is in a dreadful state - and in dire need of rescue. The scaffolding holding it up has been there for a number of years now.This small opening under the bridge looks like it could have sold ice cream - or been something to do with the large bowling green in front of it (no longer kept as a bowling green, and generally used for Frisbee and ball games today.)

There was a discussion about what may have previously been sited here: a sculpture of some kind, though I cannot remember what it was - was it a large sphere? This could be an interesting site for a proposition.
The lake and lake house. At various stages the lake house has been used as a cafe (apparently you could get egg, bacon and toast for £1.50) and the boat house used to hire out pedalos.
Here is the boat house mooring point. Could something happen here?
Above the mooring point is this ornate bracket - perfect spot for a hanging of some kind.
There have been various improvements over the last few years, for example the wooden lake side walkway, also used for fishing. Some of the damaged terracotta features close to this part of the park have been repaired over the last 5 years, but then vandalised again. This demonstrates that it is not just about fabric renewal, but that more needs to be done to increase pride in the park, or give a feeling that someone is caring for the spaces.
The games courts are always really busy, there are basketball, cricket, and tennis courts. We discussed setting up a table tennis game over the weekend, and maybe having a tournament. We really feel that the concrete tables which are popular in Berlin could work in our park, and that the temporary game could act as a proposition for development of the idea.

This is one I photographed in Berlin last year. There are a number of them in the city. I saw one area where there were a collection of tables, and lots of mini tournaments going on, a real community event, and we think relatively cheap to build and maintain, being made of such sturdy materials.
This little feature could do with a clean up - the structure was originally sited on the Garden Festival Site in 1986.
This is an area of the park which has really seen some noticeable improvements over the past year. Various community groups have worked on this particular area (SAFE and young people from the YMCA that I know of, but I am sure there must be others.) This was a bit of a no go area, it was swampy, and overgrown, and had become a bit of a drug den. It has been opened out and planted, and now has the feeling of a little hidden woodland walk.
This building has something to do with park maintenance, not sure how many people are employed at the park - this is something that I would be interested to find out.
The toilet block is all boarded up - I was told that there is a public toilet somewhere on site - but this could potentially be a problem when organising an event designed to bring people in to the park - and must be an ongoing problem for park users as it is. Perhaps we can try to draw attention to the lack of infrastructure within the park.
The view from one side of the park to the other, across the canal. Possible site for delight?Here is the park map - we will create a map for the weekend event - using this as a template, and plotting on where the art interventions will be, so that the visiting public can negotiate the park, hopefully visiting areas they would usually miss and discovering the park and the art works for themselves.

Talking City Poster Trail Selection and Site

During March I was guest editor on the Longhouse website, which was an amazing opportunity to carry out an online residency. I instigated Talking City Ezine and got a number of threads off the ground. I wanted to provide a few opportunities for other artists within the project - so set up 4 commissions and also an online exhibition space - which I then went about finding a physical space in which to show a selection from the online exhibition.

I got in touch with Kevin Bell, Stoke Town Regeneration Manager, as I had heard some good things about the work going on in Stoke. He was in principle interested, and we arranged to meet around this time to make the selection and look at a site for the posters.

I went this morning to meet Kevin and his team and to talk about the project. Kevin also put a number of questions to me regarding my views on the impact of art and cultural activity on regeneration(and specifically how we measure that impact within projects). He also asked me about my views on the public response to artists using empty shops - which is not always entirely positive. I really can see why the public can at times be sceptical about arts role in a dieing high street. I can really understand the frustration felt by business owners, and others - saying we don;t need artists to move in, we need more businesses. I agree. But there needs to be an understanding that the artists are not replacing the business - but filling in a gap in space and time - and it is always preferable to see the visionary uses that artists can bring to a space which would otherwise be empty, ugly and perhaps a site for crime. Interestingly, later in the day I had a conversation with David Bethell (AirSpace Gallery) about the way that Conjunction '08 (visual arts festival) utilised empty shops. One of the venues used on Piccadilly Hanley was visited (during the arts festival) by a couple who later took on the lease of the building - saying they were pleased to be able to visit the shop and see it in use. I think that is a positive example of a space having a temporary and productive use.

Anyway, the main point of the meeting was to go through the selection of posters. I stated that I did not want to select myself - as I really wanted to remain impartial within the process, and was actually quite interested to see what Kevin and Joel would select.

They selected the following:

Kate Lynch's Green ManMark Brereton's Box ticking

Hannah Wiles' Pin Stump

Hannah Wiles' Moss Beads

Ann Kopka's Talking Pottery
Paul Stanley's Deletia Poster

After the selecting was complete we went around to have a look at the site - which I was pleased to see. It is the hoardings of Caesars Health Spa (a former massage parlour) and ideal for activity of this kind. I will create a poster which explains the project to go up alongside the 6 selected images - and might include thumbnails of the other posters - and perhaps carry out a quick public consulation on the site - asking people what they would have selected - and also what they think about these interim uses for empty shops.