David Bethell has been selected for the Talking City Com:mission Intervention.

The Com:missions explore the impact that one artist can make in one place, in one day. The com:missions are designed to investigate the impact of short, sharp interventions within the public realm, and question how working quickly and responsively feels for the artist.

Here is the documentation of his Com:mission:

Aiming to set off from the sea lion in Ipstones to Foxt at 3pm, we left the pub with curious punters wondering why I was carrying a road roller. I replied “why to roll a road”.  My dress code was that of a working man. A little ironic as they all think I am a bit of a bum.  So the journey had begun just after 3pm. Armed with a make shift road roller and a camera crew followed by a few good friends, I was off.

Having completed the construction of the road roller just after 2:30pm after 3 hours of  continuous working I had made a horse drawn road roller based on the traditional design apart my version was made from six 6 ft pieces of wood, twine, two cart wheels, cardboard and a broom handle. All brought within one hour from two shops, one of the quickest shopping sprees known to man.

I did wonder how my contraption would work and how long it would last. Would it last the whole duration of the walk, approximately 1 half miles through mud, make shift paths and the odd cattle grid. Or would it fall apart within minutes of the starting point.  It was an interesting and amusing experiment. As the design and the way I constructed the road roller has been specifically made not to last. Thus questioning the craftsmanship but questioning my body and my work ethic.

Having decided on the idea a few weeks ago I was glad to see that my construction was not a million miles away from my design. I was relatively pleased. The work had stemmed from my previous piece of work ‘Plough’ made for Interrogation Walsall.  The work was still questioning some of the same issues, such as the craftsmanship and the quality of a product, and the machine against a location whilst also looking at the potential of a space.

So back to the beginning of the story, I set off just past 3pm with a few odd looks. The moment to test how well the road roller would roll had come to pass. The result was a success. I was pleased. It did actually roll! So now which one of us would collapse first was the next question, would it be me or would it be the road roller? The first challenge was a hill followed by small bridge, All clear. Whilst I was rolling and roaming the countryside, I began to think how romantic the work was and how the work would look both as a film and as a set of photographs but I also enjoyed the fact that I had taken this root many times when I was a lot younger. I was re rolling my memories. I did think that it would be terrible if a road was actually built here.

The reason for choosing this specific path was to both celebrate the Staffordshire Moorland’ s rural landscape and its agricultural landscape relating to the farming industry, but the path would also take me through worn tracks made from grass, soil, bits of stone,  and rock. This would hopefully give me a path that was both rural and  slightly urban at the same time.
As the path got longer my legs began to ache and the road roller had little marks on it apart from mud. The machine was doing a little better than I expected! O dear! At least it was a labour of love for me rather than a just hard plain work. I thought back to my proposal as I stated that I did want this to symbolise the decline and the loss of labour intensive jobs during the recession.

During the walk, we didn’t come across anyone apart from two young ladies and a dog. Their expressions were lit by bemusement. I said nothing and carried on my way. I hope they thought ‘that man isn’t going to destroy our woods with that machine.’ Even if I wanted to I do not think the road roller was capable of doing so.

Once I entered the woods the road roller had started to deteriorate and once it started there was no stopping it.  I think this was mainly due to me trying to roll a set of a stairs and some boulders along the way. Once the roller had hit the self destruct button, I came to a halt, out of breath and relieved that my work had fallen before I did. This happened approximately at the half way stage.

I carried the remains to Foxt; as I am sure that there maybe a mark two version at a later date. We didn’t really see anyone apart from the odd person walking their dog, again looking bemused. I suppose it’s not every day you see someone carrying bits of wood, twine, wheels and cardboard dressed in orange pants.  It must have looked a bit odd, but if they had seen the Road Roller then it would have been perfectly normal.

What I enjoyed most about the project was the fact that I had to work within a really short time period and within a tight budget; this made and gave my work the feel that I was after.  I will also be looking to do another version of Road Roller within a different location.  This may take the form of a disused Railway or along a canal.  This may help me and my work encounter a few more people, if I were to do it on the Canal anyway. As I felt there could have been more people that saw the work, either as an audience or as onlookers. I suppose this is down to choosing the right location.  I am pleased with how my work has developed for this project and I am sure I will develop the work even further, both considering my presence as the performer and the location. I will also look more at my costume and what I am wearing. I will also give more warning to people that wish to come and see the performance and research the location first. The previous location that I chose for this performancewas a disused railway, but it reopened on the day that I wanted to carry out the performance. A lesson to be learnt there.

I hope you have enjoyed this story.

Click here to go to David Bethells’ website

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TALKING CITY is Anna Francis’ Longhouse Guest Editor project, for March 2010.

Click here to go to the project page.