So, I have been working on my 'Official Tour Guide - Stoke-on-Trent' brochure to go with my tour. This is one side of the brochure for the regeneration tour, which is due to take place on Friday (20th Feb) I am still working on the other side because I can't decide exactly what I want to say. Depending on how this one goes I hope to create a second tour, which takes in the 1986 Garden Festival Site, as it is today. There is still a lot to do in time for Friday - sewing red ribbons onto my tour guide costume, making a flag thing to hold up (like in the picture) and getting the brochures finished and printed. I will also get the 5 Polish artists to fill in a monitoring form at the end of the tour to find out what they thought about it.
The Longhouse Action Research project is in its final months now, so I am in the process of rounding up everything that I have been doing. The research has involved investigating modes of participation, continuing to investigate the question 'What does this city really need' and has in particular found me becoming increasingly obsessed with the Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival of 1986, and the idea of becoming Stoke-on-Trent's official tour guide. Click Here to go to dedicated project blog. In order to round up the project I am developing a character: Stoke-on-Trent's official Tour guide, as through my research I have come to the conclusion that 1. this city really needs a hero and 2. there are no tour guides operating in the city. Therefore I am developing two different tours. The first is the regeneration tour; which looks at the city centre, and questions the artist's role in the regeneration process; the second will be a garden festival excavation tour. Last Saturday I went armed with the GPS to plan the route for the regen tour. 5 Polish artists will be on an exchange, visiting the city w.b. 16th feb. so I have arranged to take them on tour...
On Sunday, 7th December me and some of the other AirSpace crew headed over to The Leopard, an amazing pub in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent to support the 'Art for Life' event, which was organised by the arts team at the North Staffordshire Hospital, to raise money for creative workshops for teenagers staying in the hospital. The organisers had asked us to organise some artistic interventions around the pub, and also to lend a hand in the technical side of things: my specific job was to be the announcer, but I also needed to make a site-specific piece of work. I decided to create a new piece of art work for the event, which would be like a remix of existing artowrks dotted about the leopard. So on a site visit I took some photos and then worked on the amalgamation below. Unfortunately my computer blew up in the meantime, and so I couldn't get it printed. So instead I decided to make an interactive intervention. I noticed that in my collins pocket book of butterflies one of the butterflies was called the leopard butterfly: so I took the collins pocket book of butterflies to the Leopard and made a site specific intervention which involved taking the pages from the book and pinning them around the pub in response to what was there, for example the Painted Lady butterfly was pinned to a painting of a barmaid wearing lots of make-up; or the Nettle Tree butterfly was placed in a vase of dried flowers. Hidden amongst these was the Leopard Butterfly, and the person who found it won a bell jar with a small diorama inside; with real taxidermy butterflies. Thanks to Sarah Turner for the pics.
Last week artist Katie Shipley and I were in Birmingham's East Handsworth/Lozells area for the research and development stage of the Beyond Bricks programme which we have been commissioned for.
"Beyond Bricks is a programme of temporary creative activities that provides opportunities for artists and residents to work together to respond to the social, economic and environmental changes taking place in Lozells and East Handsworth. The programme celebrates the culture and pride of local community, its heritage and its future."
The first day of the r and d process involved a walk through Lozells - though this was no ordinary walk, we were equipped with GPS systems and cameras, and were able to document our route this way. This was a very exciting and satisfying way of negotiating a new place, and something I hope to expand upon in future. Over the four days we met a number of really interesting people: We met the other artists and creative groups that have been commissioned, these include Geese Theatre, who have teamed up with community group Mothers In Pain - a group to support victims of gun and knife crime and their families, together they will be working to create an educational dvd that can inform young people about the realities of gun and knife crime, while offering alternatives. A recently formed group Aspire and Succeed have been commissioned to create a theatre production and dvd which documents the true Lozells and Easy Handsworth area - the group have proved to be very valuable to the project already; with their local knowledge and insight into the communities and their concerns. Birmingham based Rob Hewitt has been commissioned to provide a Community clean up service; offering to paint people's doors and window frames a selection of bright and beautiful colours; and then photographer Andrew Jacksonwill be stepping out of his comfort zone to work with people in the area to create personal 3 minutes documents of lives lived in the area. Finally music and sound group Sound It Out will be working with the people of the area to create a soundtrack to the area. As well as all of this Lead artist Simon Poulter will be creating a project, and helping all of us to carry out ours in the best possible way. One of Simon's main concerns is that we should try to secure a Beyond Bricks House, to use as our base, and to allow us to truly inhabit the place and understand it in a deeper way. This is something that Simon has done in the past: and perhaps aims to address the problem of artists parachuting into a place in order to carry out a project which delivers to a community, rather than working meaningfully with them. This concern feels like one of the main issues which arose for me from the R and D days. Going into a community to carry out a project with various groups, that asks that community to look at itself and think about the problems/issues and concerns around change, community cohesion and race relations should not be undertaken lightly. The main question which arose was that none but the Aspire and Succeed group, and Mothers In Pain are from the area; the rest of us are from elsewhere; it made us think about the relationships we have, or more accurately do not have with our neighbours and the communities where we live. This is something that I intend to consider further as the project progresses.
Katie and I have been commissioned to carry out a project called Give Me Your Hand. Here is the rationale and project details:
Our hands show our histories, give clues to our cultural origins, our ages and the way we are feeling. Hands are expressive and can be used to communicate. The project will build up a catalogue of the people of Lozells and East Handsworth’s hands. They will be invited to work with their hands in various ways through the project; photographing their hands making gestures, making hand-prints in print and digital media and exploring what we can do and build with our hands through a series of workshops with groups in the area. At the same time we will discuss how the people of Lozells and East Handsworth feel about the place where they live, and about the opportunities represented by the changes that will be taking place in the near future. We will tap into peoples hopes and dream, aiming to raise aspirations by talking to people about what they would like to see happen, and giving them their say in the processes of change. We will aim to create a lasting document based on the people of East Handsworth and Lozells, and their dreams for the future which will be presented at sites across the area, and then ultimately will be presented publicly to the developers, becoming a useful tool, informing developers about what people want, think and feel.
The programme is funded by arts council and urban living, and is administrated by Longhouse and Multistory, and we are really looking forward to getting started.
Artist Stephen Sharp (and his girlfriend Emily) and I made our way to Hull on Saturday to drop off the ballot boxes and voting cards for our collaborative project, commissioned by the Latitude Festival. While we were there we spent some time in the city centre asking the good people of Hull our four questions, in response to the festival, about public art. You can vote on what you think of these same questions by clicking on the poll forms on the right hand side of the dedicated blog Click here to go there.The poll is open until 5pm on 7th December, then the calibrated results will be displayed on two limited edition posters which Stephen and I will produce and these can be picked up at the two sites in Hull where the ballot boxes are situated (ARC and the Hull School of Art and Design.)
Back in May I left a clue on this blog (CLICK HERE). It mentioned the fact that a mystery object had arrived at my house. I can now reveal that the Mystery Object was part of the Progressive Transformation project, curated by Moira Third and Lois Carson. The basic premise of the project is like Chinese Whispers for artists. One artist makes an art object and then anonymously sends their artwork on to the next person; who makes a transcription of the original object, before sending their new piece on to the next person. Altogether there were 22 artists in the chain, and therefore one original object, and 19 transcriptions. I received a heavily coded video, which showed a typewriter and a story being typed out. The clues lead me to develop the character 'Jenny the Wren' who was looking for a man - other clues lead Jenny to the Job centre...I posted her details on a dating website, for the next person to discover. The artworks and documentation of the process go on display in the Progressive Transformations exhibition, which opens on Saturday, 6th December at the Limousine Bull Project Space, Aberdeen.
Thanks so much to Jim Buso (organiser/above in his studio space at The Royal Standard) and all the Liverpool artists, who made 'The Winner Takes It All' a really special and amazing weekend. ..I will put up some more of my photos as I sort them, but here are a few for now...The resource is assembled.
On arrival in Liverpool I made my way over to the 'Formule 1' hotel (an education in itself), across the road from the Albert Docks. It was quite a shock to go to this side of the city, and note the phenomenal developments that have been going on over the last 5 years. The strange dislocation which used to punctuate a trip to the Docks is gone now, and enormous shopping malls and tall buildings have landed, filling the gaps. Some of the Liverpool artists arrived to meet us, and take us over to the new Royal Standard building. On arrival we were able to look at the current show: NAVIGATOR, and then gather in the project space in order to assemble the resource. Each invited artist/delegate was invited to bring a cultural or artistic object to represent their city, and people also brought wads of information about the art spaces which they were affiliated to in their prospective cities. These contributions look set to form the foundations of a permanent resource for the Liverpool artists; based at the Royal Standard. The information which people brought from their various Cities and spaces represent a unique map of artist led activity in the UK, and could be the start of something really useful and interesting.
Royal Standard studio space.
The Royal Standard has not been open for long, but is already establishing itself as an important stop on any cultural visit to Liverpool. The building is home to 25 studio artists as well as the project space, and galleries. I was very impressed with the ethos adopted by the Royal Standard, which is described as follows on their website: 'As a studio co-operative, we strive to create a home for a group of artists challenging their practices, their peers and their environment on all levels. We also act as a social hub, providing ample space and facilities to act as a day-to-day launch pad for a wider membership of artists and practitioners and a location for a varied programme of live events and social activity, and meeting space for creative organisations.' This is supported by their commitment to changing their 'Directors' every few years - a notion which ensures that the space does not end up being run like a fascist regime, means that noone becomes overburdened or fatigued, and provides opportunities for a number of people to gain the undoubtedly invaluable experience of running the space, and fixing the program.
The outside of the Royal Standard: with Oliver Walker's 'Mr Democracy' container.
The Royal Standard building was fantastic; and the work being shown there over the weekend that we were there was really exciting, fresh and energetic. Highlights included a one night exhibition 'From Dusk Til Dawn' which was provided by some of the delegates; over from Lithuania, and took place in the dark. I really look forward to following what goes on there and will definitely be visiting again in future. We were then taken over to Red Wire Studio (weekends co-hosts) to see 'Fear Yourself' the Daniel Johnston exhibition.
Artists looking at 'Fear Yourself.'
Red Wire Studio opened in 2005, by 4 JMU graduates, who found the building and then got a number of others in on the act. They have the full gallery space (seen above) and then around 14 studio artists, squeezed into the other half of the space. This added to the more home made/communal feel at Red Wire, which is by no means a bad thing. The group described 'Fear Yourself' as being a real coup for them, and has had the effect of changing their perception of what they can do. So: Watch this Space... After this show we went to another show downstairs in the Carlisle Building, and then to the pub for some much needed grub.
The Royal Art Lodge Exhibit at the Bluecoat.
The next morning we were up early to meet at The Bluecoat to see some of the Biennial's 'Made Up' offerings. These included an amazing, linear painted piece by the Art Lodge (Marcel Dzama et al) Sarah Sze's piece, which though listed as being within the public realm, is actually in the Bluecoat's stairwell.
Sarah Sze's installation.
We were then shown around the Bluecoat studios and resource spaces (for example there is a fully functioning print room which artists can book out at the Bluecoat.) As we walked around the building we commented on the difference in studio provision at the Bluecoat, in comparison to most other spaces we may have experience of. Not since the comfortable, cotton wool days of being students have we experienced such luxury. Studios at the Bluecoat
There were some questions raised of the provision; is it too clean, clinical and indeed too comfortable? Perhaps because we are so used to existing in cold, dark spaces we now can't imagine enjoying being warm, dry and fully equipped, but at the Bluecoat they are sure that not only do we deserve it, but it should be fairly affordable too. The studio costs £8 per square foot all in.
Richard Woods
Next we moved on to what used to be a paint and DIY shop called Rapide, where Richard Woods ambitious installation was sited, as well as Jesper Just's compelling 'Romantic Delusions' video.
By this point the Winner delegates had been split into two groups: one group (named the Urban Tour) would be going on a tour of Liverpool's centre to look at the various sites affected by capital of culture and the Liverpool Biennial, while my group were going on the Suburban tour; going to the outskirts to see what impact, if any, the Biennial and capital of culture is making on the suburbs. We took the train to Edgehill train station, which the Liverpool artists told us is [probably] the oldest passenger station in the world. Artist led group Metal have taken over one of the station buildings, turning it into a gallery space. The exhibition which was on was called 'Horse Power' and was based on various artist's responses to this terms, all stemming from Nietszche's madness after seeing a horse being whipped in the street. The red walls seems to be a recurring theme; David Blandy's 'Mingering Mike' installation at the Bluecoat also had red walls.
So, I have been working on my 'Official Tour Guide - Stoke-on-Trent' brochure to go with my tour. This is one side of the brochure for the regeneration tour, which is due to take place on Friday (20th Feb) I am still working on the other side because I can't decide exactly what I want to say.
