INTERЯOGATION: WEST BROMWICH explored the impact that one artist can make in one place, in one day.
For a brief overview of the Project take a look at this short film (filmed as part of the final conference event – Anna gave a short summary of the project – in the interrogation headquarters hence the poor lighting)
The Approach:
The programme, organised by Longhouse, working with lead artist Anna Francis and photographer Glen Stoker, is designed to investigate the impact of short, sharp interventions within the public realm.
The concern this year was to investigate how artists are bridging gaps – gaps in infrastructure, regeneration and consultation processes, and bridging gaps between people and cultural activity. This was done through four interrogation days using four different methodologies:
INTERЯOGATION: ACTION RESEARCH (08 September 2010)
INTERЯOGATION: PARTICIPATION (15 September 2010)
INTERЯOGATION: SITE SPECIFIC (22 September 2010)
INTERЯOGATION: INTERVENTION (29 September 2010)
The artists that were selected to take part in the different ‘missions’ became Agents for the day, and therefore had to be dressed appropriately…in beret, t-shirt and the compulsory moustache.
Each week we invited a guest artist to come along and aid the Agents in their investigations with their specialist knowledge and previous experience.
The Interrogation headquarters were set up as part of the Sandwell Arts in Queens Square initiative, where we were kindly given an empty shop unit within the Shopping Centre by Sandwell Council for the month of September.This meant that we were located centrally and the Agents could carry out their missions on the High Street and see for themselves how the town centre is due to change in the near future.
Our target zone was the top of the High Street, looking out towards an area of redevelopment labelled as the Eastern Gateway. The plans for this area were shared with the agents and Anna gave a short presentation about the town: its history and its future, to ensure they were armed with some background information before they designed their interventions and took to the streets.
After a morning of learning and looking the agents then took a couple of hours to plan their interventions (based on the theme of their particular week) and then spent the afternoon carrying out their missions on the High Street.
The shop unit started off fairly empty with the intention of it being gradually filled over the month: with each week the Interrogation Agents filled the walls with their findings and a record of their interventions whilst reflecting on their experiences.
On Friday 1 October 2010 we held a conference event where Anna and each of the guest artists presented their findings in relation to the topic of ‘Artists Bridging Gaps’.
Each of the Interrogation missions was recorded in real time via the Longouse blog, starting with a recce by Anna in the town before the project began.
Over the next four weeks we will be featuring the results from each of the Interrogation days on this site and presenting some of the discussions and conclusions that emerged during the project, including those of our undercover agents from Rednile Projects.
Interrogation: Action Research
