Art and Regeneration, Why Do It?

There's a write up of a panel event, Art and Regeneration, Why Do It?, which was hosted by the Architecture Centre Network in February on ACN's website. The panel consisted of myself, Sam Wilkinson from Insite Arts and Anna Strongman from Argent.

Public Art Micro Documentary - Grasp The Words Which Sing from Ben Sherriff on Vimeo.

This 'micro-documentary' looks at Michael Fairfax's text and public art work in Exeter. It doesn't really deal with the text at all, rather addresses the politics/controversy/issues surrounding public art pieces. Some nice images though. I'd heard about the Heavitree project, but not seen images before. It's been hugely controversial, but I like it!

If you're interested to see more of Michael Fairfax's work, check out his website: www.michaelfairfax.co.uk

Writers and Public Art - a new web resource

Myself and poet Linda France were recently commissioned by NAWE to produce a web based resource offering writers an introduction to the field of Public Art. The resource, which includes an introduction on how to find work, approach partners, contacts to see what else is being done in this area and a comprehensive bibliography, is now online.

Anne Caldwell, Programme Manager for NAWE says: "The collection of images from Linda France helps bring this work to life, and can be used to begin to develop your own approaches to collaborations. The images could spark ideas about a range of visual arts materials, your own use of text and styles etc, or be used to share with potential partners as a way of sparking ideas. Linda France encourages you to create your own image bank of material to inspire projects in the future, as every writer will have their individual style and taste in this developing area of work."

Taking a Break

I'll be taking a break until early April, but will be on the look out for interesting things to blog about when I return....

The Tragedy of Suburbia

I listened to a TED talk this week: The Tragedy of Suburbia by James Howard Kunstler. It has a bit too much American invective for my taste, but it's definitely worth a listen. A passionate challenge to modern planning and a demand for better quality places ...

Artists and Regeneration

I'm talking at 'Artists and Regeneration', an event organised by The Architecture Network at The Building Exploratory in Dalston tomorrow night. It features myself, Anna Strongman from Argent and Sam Wilkinson from Insite Arts. Tickets have sold out, but they're going to put a podcast online so I'll post once that's up. Should be an interesting conversation....

Linear

I went to the launch of Dryden Goodwin's stunning project, Linear, for Art on the Underground on Friday. He's drawn portraits of 60 members of staff on the Jubilee line, and recorded both the process of drawing and the conversations that took place. The results are 60 short films that give an incredible insight into the people that took part. There's also something really magical about watching their faces emerge from a blank piece of paper as you hear them speak. Funny, moving, gorgeous. Check it out.