After a tough day battling the elements, the agents thoughts on their day’s intervening in West Bromwich prove enlightening.

Back in the relative warmth and mostly dry Interrogation room, the agents set about disseminating their afternoon’s activities and thinking about how to document and display them. This next 1 1/2 hours is essential to provide the viewing public the opportunity to understand what has happened.

the afternoon provided the agents with the toughest possible public realm conditions…rain. however like true agents they weren’t deterred and here are their resulting actions.

Agent lynch responded to the multitude of types of signage to be found in the high street – some professionally branded, but mostly impromptu and home made. she responded to the presence of workmen by the clock tower by making and positioning a sign by them proclaiming their work to be about a “new square” for west brom. by adding a question mark to an “opening soon” sign she altered the sentiment. and the tiny but perfectly formed addition to the signage of a stall holder did what both other interventions did i.e highlight the empty or broken promises often made by councils and in particular, west bromwich council.

Agent Cassidy-Smith used rubbings of architectural and physical features found in the eastern gateway, and combined them with photographs of overlooked architectural features, displaying both on the ground – part performance, part intervention, it was designed to arouse curiosity in the public, who, agent cassidy-smith hoped, would be moved to actively question her actions. her resulting rubbings were stitched together to form a book for the documentation wall.

Agent Powell was struck by the endless promises of regeneration and sought to highlight the issue by offering the public a chance to regenerate themselves. having bought a selection of “fancy dress” adornments, she attempted to persuade people to give themselves a “60-second makeover” whilst offering them the chance to talk about their feelings towards the town’s regeneration.

Following the procedure of previous mission weeks, the artists are led by Agent Francis on a tour of the target zone – a chance for thoughts and ideas to ferment into hopefully what will be fuller formed projects this afternoon.

the agents inhabit the public space

the rain can’t get in the way of art

the artists ignore the rain

agent francis – the director

agent cassidy-smith listens to agent francis’ direction

interrogating against the tide

the local constabulary worried about speeding in the target zone

pizza hut under threat

will one of these notes result in a successful outcome?

the JUNEAU PROJECTS start their masterclass with a series of examples of their own work, including an investigation into donald campbell’s water speed records, song creation in chinese restaurants, japanese rice farmers and the decline of their industry, and their most recent project – cardboard wars – based on the american idea of cardboard tube fighting.

…and also examples from other specialists with particular approaches in the field of intervention.

MARGARET BARRON

GILLIAN WEARING

HAYLEY NEWMAN

FRANCIS ALYS

GABRIELLA ROTHKO

KEITH WILSON

DAVID SHRIGLEY

ADAM CHODZKO

The final mission day has arrived – a day of interventions – artistic responses to the target zone – west bromwich high street. today promises to be a day full of quick, inventive and insightful projects designed to highlight the eastern gateway of the high street and its potential for regeneration.

the day kicks off with the arrival of today’s specialist agents – juneau project’s phil duckworth and ben sadler. (more about the specialist agents and their specialism later.) agent francis starts with a quick briefing of today’s running order.