Reflections and action plan following Presentations March 2007
Reflections on the Nurope seminar
Issues surrounding art for social change
What is the role of the imagined and the unreal in aiding engagement with the physical and social environment? Does this separation, achieved through a ‘play element’, help us to examine the parts of the whole in isolation? Is it crucial to a re-imagining or reinvention that leads to re-definition or greater appreciation? If so, this leads to a broader definition of beneficial cultural activity.
The methodology for an art practice that perceives social-change as its aim can be better understood as a framework that can be over-layed on to projects rather than a rigid structure to be followed from beginning to end. Within this framework participation appeared as the unifying factor between successful projects. Participation is bred at the initial stages, and can only be achieved through the inclusion of ‘the audience/actors/benefactor’ at every level. It requires the appropriate rejection of detrimental hierarchies but also the shrewd employment of productive task-delegation. Singular authorship, individualised symbolism and metaphor, and egotism are opposing factors to this end.
Consequences for Biella
For Citta Studi and the Art of Excellence initiative/brand the current economic and social conditions of unemployment, industrial/manufacturing decline and poverty is a period in the province’s history to be escaped from as quickly as possible and then forgotten. The solution appears to be chiefly, if not solely, identified in strategies to bring money back into the region and increase employment. This is evading the root of the problem, which is that the current economical and social crisis is equally the result of the people of Biella’s lack of adaptability to a reality of less monetary wealth in the province.
There is a rich tradition of local produce, artisan skills and beautiful natural surroundings and resources. These have not been affected qualitatively by the decline of industry and are now being identified as ways in which to bring money back into the area through tourism and international exchange. However, there is an infinitely more useful potential for these qualities: that they begin (once more) to characterise the people of the area and feed into their identity. This post-industrial scenario can be crudely viewed as a renaissance of the pre-industrial Biella that will require a concerted effort to connect with distant generations of the area.
In this way the value of these Biellese resources (local produce, craftsmanship, natural and industrial environment) to the area can not only be judged on their potential to quantifiably develop the area (economically) but also in terms of their role to improve the quality of life of the Biellese – the amount of money and resources used to fund these initiatives should reflect this.
Similarly the initiatives that are employed to achieve this growth in the character and economy of the area should be as people-intensive as possible, that is, they should involve as many members of the community at every stage as possible rather than be run on an efficient model of ‘less labour and more productivity’. It will be vital to the sustained development of the Biellese province that the population of the area are given the appropriate tools with which to develop their identity, and this is an opportunity for access to these tools through qualitatively useful work.
The Biellese identity can no longer rely on the reputation of affluence and high employment, as these are factors subject to unpredictable flux in the new economy. The people of the area must be given the opportunity to develop a deeper relationship with their environment and history than the textiles-biased reality they are presently contained in. This will arm the Biellese people with the confidence and skills to adapt to their new future, be that one of affluence or one that requires a more radical redefinition of the provinces wealth.
In Bradford and Leeds there is evidence that this kind of qualitative ‘people-production’ is achieved must effectively through community-led initiatives. The human need for connection with our neighbour and our environment already exists, and people are willing to put their time into these activities without money as the chief reward. It is the role of a conscientious local authority to help develop and sustain activity to this end and to have the courage to entrust the form of these community activities to the community themselves. This is the only true method that breeds real participation.
Obviously there are methods that can be employed to encourage new community-led activity in the absence of a motivated community. These methods can take the form of strategies to draw influence from traditional community activities specific to the area that can be re-imagined to provoke greater participation. Another method to help motivate a community can be achieved through a dialogue with other communities that have been in similar situations. This dialogue may provoke activity through inspiration or education.
To this end we have developed a project that will aid the communication between communities in Leeds, Bradford and Biella. We intend to create an informal network of individuals and communities from these areas and help run book-making workshops where the individuals can document their histories, day-to-day activities, and desires for the future. These books can then be shared between the communities to help stimulate a dialogue, find solidarity or inspire community-led activity. Similarly we propose an object based version of the project utilising special vending machines installed in the three cities and also a website. In all cases the dialogue will be achieved mainly through visual means to break down the language barrier.
On the level of the ‘people in power’ we hope to create situations where officials and figures involved in community, cultural, regeneration activity from Leeds, Bradford and Biella can exchange ideas and experiences in a physical space. To us, this dialogue is of equal importance to that between members of the communities and has equally exciting potential.
Action Plan for Lead-up to Situation Leeds 07 Art in the public realm festival
During late-2006/early-2007 we conducted a number of more in-depth interviews and archival research about Council policies, local’s attitudes and community activity groups (source material listed above. From this research we came to the conclusion that a dialogue between Leeds, Bradford and Biella could be of benefit to the communities in the three cities and their districts.
We have been invited to present the development of the project so far as part of the Nomadic University international conference on “Philosophy and Enterprise” in Biella, in February. We will present an outline of the benefits on offer for each city that a dialogue would facilitate. This is as follows:
For Biella – an insight into potential future developments and the opportunity to inform decisions on which economic directions are available post manufacturing and textile-industry decline. For the workers and the community there will be the opportunity to look beyond their present situation and in so doing ease some anxiety through the sharing of concerns and worries that are presently affecting the community.
For Bradford – an exercise in redefining the ‘wealth’ of the city that may help paint a more positive picture for the locals and instil more confidence and pride in the area. Bradford will benefit from evidence that accounts for the ‘deeper wealth’ that the (generally disheartening) statistics of the city fail to represent, as Bradford possesses a community spirit and sense of identity lacking in many new cities that are deficient of such a strong industrial and cultural heritage.
For Leeds – a similar exercise in redefining wealth. This is a complex task in Leeds as its character varies dramatically from area to area. For this reason it is necessary to look at Leeds in its separate districts/towns, which it is possible to crudely reduce to the affluent and the poor. In both cases there is an issue of identity and belonging in the city that needs addressing, both of which can be tackled through a process of redefinition brought about through self-assessment and dialogue.
The Your Arms! project has received ACE funding to aid the realisation of the next stages based on those assumptions informed by our research. Our intended methods to stimulate a dialogue between Leeds, Bradford and Biella will be made from small steps. Our preference is that the project operates on the level of the individual rather than attempting to represent the attitudes and needs of entire communities, or provide ‘statistical proof’ of the best futures for the cities. Therefore we hope to realise the project through February to May concentrating in Holbeck/Beeston area of Leeds and how we can work effectively with these communities.
Our artistic strategies can be seen as three interlinking projects
a) Workshops with the communities South Leeds (and beyond). In these workshops, led by Andy and Yvonne, members of ‘the community’ will be openly invited to a book-making club intended to appeal to a range of ages and social backgrounds. In these workshops the attendees will be led through a process of story telling using visual tools that will communicate the participants attitudes, past experiences and hopes for the future. Each participant will complete a personalised individual book which will be not only a valuable document of their own identity, but also the visual material to begin the dialogue with other communities who will attend similar workshops in Leeds, Bradford and Biella
b) Interactive Story telling machines in South Leeds (and beyond). These interactive objects take the form of curious vending machines and complete a similar function to the book-making workshops, but are not time or place specific/dependent. The user is invited to contribute a drawing related to one of the categories of the machine (either work, play, family, future etc) and in return for their contribution they will receive a drawing entered into the machine by a previous user. At intervals the machine could be emptied of its contents and refilled with contributions from a machine that has been installed in a different area and used by a different community (in Leeds, Bradford or Biella).
c) A community led website of activity in South Leeds (and beyond). To document and promote the motions of the previous two projects a website will be set-up in order to host contributions from the individuals and communities. This will act as a ‘notice board’ for events as well as a public gallery for participants of the workshops and users of the vending machines. It will act as an immediate sounding board and visual forum for the communities involved, and as an additional access point for those with web-access who are unable to attend workshops or use a vending machine.
We intend to work closely with Artist House to help realise these projects and document our activity as part of their ‘Pavillion’ project. We are open to the possibility of collaborating or sharing knowledge with other artist-led and community-led initiatives. We hope that through this, and the additional exposure and support we will receive through the Situation Leeds 07 public art festival, that we will be able to identify effective methods of working and funding that will ensure the sustainability and growth of the project, helping it to fulfil its potential.
Issues surrounding art for social change
What is the role of the imagined and the unreal in aiding engagement with the physical and social environment? Does this separation, achieved through a ‘play element’, help us to examine the parts of the whole in isolation? Is it crucial to a re-imagining or reinvention that leads to re-definition or greater appreciation? If so, this leads to a broader definition of beneficial cultural activity.
The methodology for an art practice that perceives social-change as its aim can be better understood as a framework that can be over-layed on to projects rather than a rigid structure to be followed from beginning to end. Within this framework participation appeared as the unifying factor between successful projects. Participation is bred at the initial stages, and can only be achieved through the inclusion of ‘the audience/actors/benefactor’ at every level. It requires the appropriate rejection of detrimental hierarchies but also the shrewd employment of productive task-delegation. Singular authorship, individualised symbolism and metaphor, and egotism are opposing factors to this end.
Consequences for Biella
For Citta Studi and the Art of Excellence initiative/brand the current economic and social conditions of unemployment, industrial/manufacturing decline and poverty is a period in the province’s history to be escaped from as quickly as possible and then forgotten. The solution appears to be chiefly, if not solely, identified in strategies to bring money back into the region and increase employment. This is evading the root of the problem, which is that the current economical and social crisis is equally the result of the people of Biella’s lack of adaptability to a reality of less monetary wealth in the province.
There is a rich tradition of local produce, artisan skills and beautiful natural surroundings and resources. These have not been affected qualitatively by the decline of industry and are now being identified as ways in which to bring money back into the area through tourism and international exchange. However, there is an infinitely more useful potential for these qualities: that they begin (once more) to characterise the people of the area and feed into their identity. This post-industrial scenario can be crudely viewed as a renaissance of the pre-industrial Biella that will require a concerted effort to connect with distant generations of the area.
In this way the value of these Biellese resources (local produce, craftsmanship, natural and industrial environment) to the area can not only be judged on their potential to quantifiably develop the area (economically) but also in terms of their role to improve the quality of life of the Biellese – the amount of money and resources used to fund these initiatives should reflect this.
Similarly the initiatives that are employed to achieve this growth in the character and economy of the area should be as people-intensive as possible, that is, they should involve as many members of the community at every stage as possible rather than be run on an efficient model of ‘less labour and more productivity’. It will be vital to the sustained development of the Biellese province that the population of the area are given the appropriate tools with which to develop their identity, and this is an opportunity for access to these tools through qualitatively useful work.
The Biellese identity can no longer rely on the reputation of affluence and high employment, as these are factors subject to unpredictable flux in the new economy. The people of the area must be given the opportunity to develop a deeper relationship with their environment and history than the textiles-biased reality they are presently contained in. This will arm the Biellese people with the confidence and skills to adapt to their new future, be that one of affluence or one that requires a more radical redefinition of the provinces wealth.
In Bradford and Leeds there is evidence that this kind of qualitative ‘people-production’ is achieved must effectively through community-led initiatives. The human need for connection with our neighbour and our environment already exists, and people are willing to put their time into these activities without money as the chief reward. It is the role of a conscientious local authority to help develop and sustain activity to this end and to have the courage to entrust the form of these community activities to the community themselves. This is the only true method that breeds real participation.
Obviously there are methods that can be employed to encourage new community-led activity in the absence of a motivated community. These methods can take the form of strategies to draw influence from traditional community activities specific to the area that can be re-imagined to provoke greater participation. Another method to help motivate a community can be achieved through a dialogue with other communities that have been in similar situations. This dialogue may provoke activity through inspiration or education.
To this end we have developed a project that will aid the communication between communities in Leeds, Bradford and Biella. We intend to create an informal network of individuals and communities from these areas and help run book-making workshops where the individuals can document their histories, day-to-day activities, and desires for the future. These books can then be shared between the communities to help stimulate a dialogue, find solidarity or inspire community-led activity. Similarly we propose an object based version of the project utilising special vending machines installed in the three cities and also a website. In all cases the dialogue will be achieved mainly through visual means to break down the language barrier.
On the level of the ‘people in power’ we hope to create situations where officials and figures involved in community, cultural, regeneration activity from Leeds, Bradford and Biella can exchange ideas and experiences in a physical space. To us, this dialogue is of equal importance to that between members of the communities and has equally exciting potential.
Action Plan for Lead-up to Situation Leeds 07 Art in the public realm festival
During late-2006/early-2007 we conducted a number of more in-depth interviews and archival research about Council policies, local’s attitudes and community activity groups (source material listed above. From this research we came to the conclusion that a dialogue between Leeds, Bradford and Biella could be of benefit to the communities in the three cities and their districts.
We have been invited to present the development of the project so far as part of the Nomadic University international conference on “Philosophy and Enterprise” in Biella, in February. We will present an outline of the benefits on offer for each city that a dialogue would facilitate. This is as follows:
For Biella – an insight into potential future developments and the opportunity to inform decisions on which economic directions are available post manufacturing and textile-industry decline. For the workers and the community there will be the opportunity to look beyond their present situation and in so doing ease some anxiety through the sharing of concerns and worries that are presently affecting the community.
For Bradford – an exercise in redefining the ‘wealth’ of the city that may help paint a more positive picture for the locals and instil more confidence and pride in the area. Bradford will benefit from evidence that accounts for the ‘deeper wealth’ that the (generally disheartening) statistics of the city fail to represent, as Bradford possesses a community spirit and sense of identity lacking in many new cities that are deficient of such a strong industrial and cultural heritage.
For Leeds – a similar exercise in redefining wealth. This is a complex task in Leeds as its character varies dramatically from area to area. For this reason it is necessary to look at Leeds in its separate districts/towns, which it is possible to crudely reduce to the affluent and the poor. In both cases there is an issue of identity and belonging in the city that needs addressing, both of which can be tackled through a process of redefinition brought about through self-assessment and dialogue.
The Your Arms! project has received ACE funding to aid the realisation of the next stages based on those assumptions informed by our research. Our intended methods to stimulate a dialogue between Leeds, Bradford and Biella will be made from small steps. Our preference is that the project operates on the level of the individual rather than attempting to represent the attitudes and needs of entire communities, or provide ‘statistical proof’ of the best futures for the cities. Therefore we hope to realise the project through February to May concentrating in Holbeck/Beeston area of Leeds and how we can work effectively with these communities.
Our artistic strategies can be seen as three interlinking projects
a) Workshops with the communities South Leeds (and beyond). In these workshops, led by Andy and Yvonne, members of ‘the community’ will be openly invited to a book-making club intended to appeal to a range of ages and social backgrounds. In these workshops the attendees will be led through a process of story telling using visual tools that will communicate the participants attitudes, past experiences and hopes for the future. Each participant will complete a personalised individual book which will be not only a valuable document of their own identity, but also the visual material to begin the dialogue with other communities who will attend similar workshops in Leeds, Bradford and Biella
b) Interactive Story telling machines in South Leeds (and beyond). These interactive objects take the form of curious vending machines and complete a similar function to the book-making workshops, but are not time or place specific/dependent. The user is invited to contribute a drawing related to one of the categories of the machine (either work, play, family, future etc) and in return for their contribution they will receive a drawing entered into the machine by a previous user. At intervals the machine could be emptied of its contents and refilled with contributions from a machine that has been installed in a different area and used by a different community (in Leeds, Bradford or Biella).
c) A community led website of activity in South Leeds (and beyond). To document and promote the motions of the previous two projects a website will be set-up in order to host contributions from the individuals and communities. This will act as a ‘notice board’ for events as well as a public gallery for participants of the workshops and users of the vending machines. It will act as an immediate sounding board and visual forum for the communities involved, and as an additional access point for those with web-access who are unable to attend workshops or use a vending machine.
We intend to work closely with Artist House to help realise these projects and document our activity as part of their ‘Pavillion’ project. We are open to the possibility of collaborating or sharing knowledge with other artist-led and community-led initiatives. We hope that through this, and the additional exposure and support we will receive through the Situation Leeds 07 public art festival, that we will be able to identify effective methods of working and funding that will ensure the sustainability and growth of the project, helping it to fulfil its potential.
posted by Abbott and Carmichael at 2.8.05
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