SHOP - Site Visit

Thursday morning a group of artists. writers and other creative/cultural workers met at Stoke train station. The connection between us all being that we are going to be involved in GemmaThomas's SHOP project . This day was the official first day of the project, and Gemma had organised it as a site visit - the main idea being for everyone to meet, to see the SHOP but also to locate the project historically, socially and culturally within the Town. More about SHOP here.We set off from the station for a walk which took us under the Railway bridge - currently in real need of improvement. Considering the space as a possible pedestrian route into the town it is a sorry site. Kevin Bell, regeneration manager for the Town recognises this, and is looking into ways of improving the journey. We had a look around the grounds of Stoke Minster, before walking round to the back of the library and council offices. The indoor market is open days a week - it was a shame that it was closed on our site visit day. The market is next door to the new library/council office development. There is currently a competition which the public can vote on for a mural to be painted on the side of the market building.
One of the things I am interested in exploring for my project with SHOP relates to the ethos of 'There is Beauty in the City' which asks people to look differently at spaces in the city, discovering hidden delights. When walking around Stoke with Gemma last week we had a good look at a lot of the architecture, and found the Sutherland Chambers building very beautiful, if neglected. It has six letter boxes, which act as 6 different views into the building.Here is the view through one of the right hand slots. The hall has beautiful majolica tiles.
The Sutherland Chambers building is across the road from the shop, so we stopped off for a quick look and a much needed cuppa, before heading next door to Spode to meet up with Allen, the site manager, who had promised us a tour of the factory. This is my third visit to the factory since it has been closed, and it is truly amazing (and upsetting) to note how quickly the place is deteriorating. Allen does his best to keep the heart beating in the factory, but it is too big job, and a site like this needs people to keep it going. We talked about the different workers who had been here, some for their whole working lives, and one is even buried here.The factory is a beautiful and magical place, the mould rooms in particular are amazing, and represent years of the city's history.
We then popped into the White Star for lunch.
The White Star represents a rare success story in the Town's recent history. The pub opened a couple of years ago, and sells beer from local brewery 'Titanic'. The place is always busy when I go in, and offers a very nice pint , and a very reasonable lunch.Gemma had organised a buffet lunch for us - which was great except the vegetarian sandwiches, which seemed to be spring onion and butter! Apart from that the refuelling was great - before we headed back to the shop in order to do a Map of Independence.This activity involved each of the artists going out into the town to locate and Independent Shop, go inside and interview the shopkeeper in order to find out what they sell or do, what it is like running a business in Stoke, and ask if they would like to be kept informed about the SHOP project. They would leave an information sheet with the trader telling them about the project. Each artist would then photograph the shopkeeper holding something that represents their business and the shop frontage. Here I am explaining the activity.

Everyone then returned to the shop to add their research to the map and share the information gathered. This worked better than I could have hoped, as 12 shops were mapped from the activity, and we gained a really interesting insight into the sorts of businesses that are operating locally, and how people are feeling about operating in the Town. Out of the 12 shops which the artists approached 10 said they would like to be kept informed, one employee said it wasn't up to them, and one told us they would be closing down at the weekend.The activity has also made some real headway in letting people in the town know what is going on at SHOP - the next stage of Gemma's plans will be to invite the interested traders to an OPEN SHOP event, a tea and cake evening to discuss in further detail what it is like to run a business in the town - how SHOP can feed into that and build stronger connections. Through the Independence Mapping exercise we learned that some of the shops have already formed what they are calling a 'Coalition' to help support each other in the town - this is really interesting, and something that I feel we could really connect with. I think that the 'SHOP INDEPENDENT' branding which I have developed for my project could be used for this group of Shops - and perhaps my Regeneration Tour could look at celebrating Independence in the Town. I find this particularly interesting in the context of the 'Art in Empty Spaces' initiative. I feel it is really important that the artists operating in these deprived areas, taking over empty shops, are very sensitive to what is there already, and work with that. We will only be in these spaces for a short time, and it is important that we recognise this, and try to do something which could somehow improve the situation in some way. It may be an ambitious thought, but perhaps as a project working with the local shopkeepers, we could actually help to promote their businesses, get organised as a 'coalition' and create something lasting (a well branded network of support.) The next thing I will do is to collate the information gathered by the artists into a workable Map of Independence. I will be going along to the Trader's Open Shop events, and hopefully working with them to develop a tour, and a celebration of Independence in Stoke.Marc Wootton from the City's Cultural development team took part in the exercise, he went to the local sweet shop and got some bon bons.

Garden Festival Revisited

The other weekend a group of us met at the same secret location as last year, to go back up to the Garden Festival site here in Stoke-on-Trent and check out the apple tree that we planted there last year - and see if any of the other flowers we planted had survived.Click here for last years post.
We were really pleased to find that the apple tree is doing well, and surprised to find that one of the annuals seemed to have defied its nature and grown back! Celine found a lovely blue egg (hatched) which someone said was a blackbird.
We lit the barbecue and enjoyed some al fresco lunch while some looked at the Garden Festival literature, and maps.
We had brought some seeds and a little purple flower with us to revive the garden.
We got those planted quite quickly.
And had a bit of a tidy up.
Before an impromptu game of 'plastic plate' frisbee.
Some of us were better than others, but we all had fun trying. We used what we think was 'the stone circle' on the Festival site.Then L took charge of the map, and we started our exploratory walk.
We found a new piece of evidence - a stone carving, covered in moss, we were amazed that the piece appeared to be intact under the moss.
We enjoyed wandering about the site, the woodland areas, and the openings.
We decided to try to find the Antony Gormley sculpture site again, so set off over the woodland ravine. Clip clop, clip clop we went over the wooden bridge, but luckily no trolls were met.
And there it was - next to the Trig point. Back in 1986 this hill was completely bare, but today there are large trees surrounding it.
We continued on, and carried out various physical investigations.
And checked out the Wedgwood head which wasn't there last year(spot Wedgwood's house in the background). This piece had been stored in the Museum vaults since the Festival, but has now been returned to the site. Maybe we will go back again next year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the festival.

SHOP

Gemma Thomas - SHOP

On Thursday I met Gemma Thomas in Stoke Town to talk about the opening of her SHOP.

SHOP is a project which Gemma has instigated in Stoke, which will bring artists and other creative practitioners together to revitalise, revive and set out possible future visions for the empty high street shop. This project has been funded through the art council's unprecedented 'Art in Empty Spaces' project which has seen more than £500,000 awarded to projects like this across the U.K.

View from upstairs in SHOP

Gemma has been given a little shop, right next to the Spode Factory Site in the town. It is a reasonably sized two room space, with a lot of windows. Gemma has lots of ideas and plans for the venue - and is taking an eclectic multi-disciplinary approach. She is offering a number of residencies for artists, as well as opportunities for exhibitions, commissions and other project based activities and events which will be happening. Gemma is keen to involve lots of practitioners and already has artists, musicians, actors and craft makers on board for the programme. This Thursday will be the first 'event' to take place at the shop. The event is a sort of site visit for the practitioners who will be involved in the project, and will consist of a tour of Stoke, some background delivered from the Shop and a facilitated activity (which is where I come in.) Gemma has commissioned me to set up a mapping activity to take place on Thursday. The activity will serve a number of purposes: it will help the practitioners to orientate themselves in the Town, and will also help us to create a first piece of work to be displayed in the shop window, but as well as this it is an important awareness raising activity. The practitioners will be tasked with going into the town to identify 'Independent Shops' in order to record them, they will aim to interview the shop keepers, and photograph their hands holding something which represents them and their business. They will then return to the shop where we will create a 'Map of Independence.' The shopkeepers will be asked if they would like to be kept informed about developments at SHOP, and hopefully will help to embed SHOP within the town, and build relationships.This information will be collated and will become a document of Independent Shops in Stoke today. I will also be working on a more immersive mapping activity during July, which will be developed into a tour and maybe an exhibition in SHOP at the end of August.We also popped over to Spode to have a word with Allen - site manager there, and see if we can include Spode in the site tour on Thursday.
It will be interesting to watch what develops as a result of activity of this kind. I am also really keen to find out what the general public think about empty spaces being used in this way, which is something I hope to tap into within the project.
I carried out a test interview, as an example to show the practitioners on Thursday - my interview took place with the proud 'owner' of Number 116 Church Street.
Shop name: SHOP
How long have you been open?
Today is the first day.
What do you sell/do?
We are animating an empty space - not just this shop, but the whole town, by bringing a mixture of artistic activity to excite local residents.
What's it like - running a business in Stoke?
I imagine it's a challenge, but I'm quite excited about that.
Can you give me or let me photograph an object that sums up your business?
What's this?
The keys to SHOP!

Roll on Thursday...

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.