Anna Francis will be talking with Ania Bas, collaborative artist and developer of art projects. The conversation will develop over the month – so be sure to check back periodically to see how it goes.

THE CONVERSATION

AF: Your work really involves people and places, so I was wondering what your experience might be in terms of creating dialogues with the public, and how you might go about instigating that and in particular how location might have an impact on how well those go – and also if in your experience places have people types in anyway, if you see what I mean…

*****

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

Click here to go to the project page.

THE CONVERSATION

AF: Just wondering – would you have time for a conversation? I was thinking about your practice and was hoping to have an exchange with you along those lines. Fancy it?

AJ: In a word…

AF: So Adam: your work often looks at the overlooked, ignored and misunderstood about the city – why are you drawn to these bits?
Can you sum it up with an image?

*****

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

Click here to go to the project page

Anna Francis will be deliberating with Emily Speed, an artist working in sculpture, installation, drawing and artists’ books. Emily is on the shortlist for the Liverpool Art Prize 2010. The conversation will develop over the month – so be sure to check back periodically to see how it goes.

THE CONVERSATION

AF: Within your work you often use cheap and found materials and respond to some extent to surroundings. Then there seems to be the other things you do which are about talking about the value of the artist, recognition for this and activities which could be seen as activism, and encouraging activism in others (I hope you don’t mind that description.) How much do these two things inform each other, and is alot of your vocalism due to your experiences as a practitioner?

*****

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

Click here to go to the project page.

THE CONVERSATION

AF: So, Rich, before we start – what does it mean ‘location-specific’ and how does that differ from site-specific? And then in practical terms perhaps lets think about your recent piece for the Market Estate Project – how did your location specific way of working turn out?

RW:  Site-specific is more general. A site-specific work is designed to be recreated in a number of different sites e.g. Antony Gormley’s Field series. Location-specific is a work created for a location. The genesis and execution of the work is heavily influenced by this location. ‘Crowd Control’ for the Market Estate Project was the result of researching the history of the location, plus my own feelings and impressions about the place. I discovered that the location had a long history of protests, marches, civil unrest and social gatherings. My response to this was ‘what do we always get, these days, whenever there is a march? Riot police.’ and decided to build a semi-abstract structure reminiscent of lines of sheild-wielding figures of authority.  Following this I sourced materials from the location (they came from the building site that was soon to engulf the estate) and devised building methods based on what I found. The result of this became a quite formibable set of heavily braced barriers.
This is the process I have been using for a number of years now. Each time a different work emerges. The one exception was ‘Capitalyst’ (2009) where I was specifically asked to recreate ‘Vigilance’ (2007) for a festival in Belfast. ‘Vigilance’ was location-specific – influnced by the submarine factory and the proximity of a great source of cardboard boxes. ‘Capitalyst’ was site-specific. The piece was built on-site and to fit that site, but it’s form and method were already decided, it wasn’t influenced by the location. You could argue that there are relevant relationships between sub building and the once-great ship building industry of Belfast but this felt a little tenuous.
‘Crowd Control’ could be recreated elsewhere but I don’t know if it’s impact would be same, and this what is important to me about location-specific work – I try to find something which resonates with the location. The form of the work should evoke something specific to the place.

AF: I can see that the idea of responding to the place’s history and specific identity is important to you. Did it feel wrong then when you worked on ‘Capitalyst’ – did it feel like cheating in some way, or was it less satisfactory?

RW: A little bit. It was still a challenge (which is also important). I had four days to construct the work and it was quite a complicated build due to the curved form crossing through three rooms. The result was satisfying – it produced a different experience to ‘Vigilance’ as people were allowed into the room to explore the work. But it felt a little like cheating. I think it’s still a strong piece of work though – just a little different than how I prefer to work.

AF: As was the case with the Market Estate Project a lot of the things you do only last for a short time, this must put a lot of pressure on documentation. What impact does this have on the making process?

RW: Documentation is always important with my work as it will be the only thing that remains. It doesn’t really have an impact on the making process though. Sometimes I document a little as I go, but I don’t work with this in mind.

I am aware that the finished work has to make a good photo – getting the next commission relies on previous work, so the documentation has to look convincing and show the work looking as strong as possible.
‘Displacement’ (2009) was quite a difficult piece to document as the work created a physical journey. Expressing this journey in two or three images was tricky. I did make a little walkthrough movie for the website though, which I think helps clarify what is happening in the still images.
My work often has two sides – a sort of front, or facade, and a rear were more complex or dynamic things are occurring (Crowd Control at the Market Estate being an example of this). I like to give the viewer something to explore, and having things happening around the back for them to find if they make the effort is a way of giving a reward for looking – I always think there is something satisfying about finding hidden details; I love that feeling of discovery. However, this can be hard to document or express through a single image, and many calls for submissions to shows ask for one image per work which makes it very hard to decide which view of a work to send.
To come back to your question: I make the work to be seen in the flesh – thinking about how the viewer will relate to it, how they might move around it – but keeping a view on how to document it. The work comes first, the photographs second.

AF: and how has the viewer reacted to your work in the past? I remember hearing you talk about the piece in the Greyfriars bus station, and the process of building your intervention. What sort of reactions have you had while making and beyond, and how important is that sort of feedback to you?

*****

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

Click here to go to the project page.

Check back soon for the investigations into various artist led activities…

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

Click here to go to the project page.

Throughout the month long residency period Conversations will take place between Anna Francis and artists and other public realm professionals about working in the city and all sorts of things.

The conversations will develop naturally over time, so check back to see how things develop.

IN CONVERSATION with RICH WHITE

IN CONVERSATION with EMILY SPEED

IN CONVERSATION with ADAM JAMES

IN CONVERSATION with ANIA BAS

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

Click here to go to the project page.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10th 2010

The Tesco development has created a psychological severance between my house and the city centre – I feel cut off…

*****

TUESDAY, MARCH 9th 2010

“The life of our city is rich in poetic and marvelous subjects. We are enveloped and steeped as though in an atmosphere of the marvelous; but we do not notice it.”

- Charles Baudelaire

*****

MONDAY, MARCH 8th 2010

“To look at the cross-section of any plan of a big city is to look at something like the section of a fibrous tumor.”

- Frank Lloyd Wright, (1867 – 1959)

*****

SUNDAY, MARCH 7th 2010

“…in city planning… you start with the people and have motor traffic and buildings as second priorities.”

- Jan Gehl, 2010

*****

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

Click here to go to the project page.

Anna will be consulting a team of professionals to get to the bottom of some of those difficult quandaries and concerns which arise from being an artist making work within the public realm.

The only silly question is the one you didn’t ask!

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

Click here to go to the project page.