Coast - Festival of the Visual Arts

LIVING-SPACES

Temporary Public Art Interventions for Coast 2010

The Living-Spaces project was an opportunity for the residents of two small towns on the northern edge of Aberdeenshire to work with quality artists to create temporary public art that examined our relationship with the neglected areas of our built environment.

In spring 2009 Banff and Macduff Community Trust (B&MCT) set up a participatory photographic survey of what was most loved and loathed about the two towns. The resounding response was a love for the built environment and open spaces and a loathing for exactly the same things - when they are neglected. These derelict, unused and un-cared for buildings, along with the spaces around them are not only indicative of economic problems, but also of a culture of neglect and disregard for the quality of the spaces we pass through, the capillaries as well as the arteries that connect the communities.

Coast Festival aimed to engage with the communities of Banff and Macduff and bring quality contemporary art experiences to the heart of the towns. To that end, Coast worked to create a temporary public art project that featured over the weekend of Festival at the end of May 2010. Two artists were engaged, Chris Biddleco and lulu Quinn, to produce temporary interventions, based on the artist’s response to defined areas within the towns, research from the community and workshops with residents.

The project was not intended to provide an immediate cure for dereliction or to beautify specific eyesores in any way. But rather to inspire change in the culture of how we respond to un-used buildings and spaces. We hoped it might give the two communities ideas and empowerment to start changing how we relate – landlords, councils, neighbours and artists - to the blankness of un-used places and spaces, and see them as opportunities for a community to reveal its distinction from, rather than its uniformity with, other depressed areas.

Role of the artist

The artists were required to:-

·         To be the creative instigator of discussion, ideas generation and debate over the issue of the quality of Living-Spaces in the two towns.

·         Develop and deliver an original temporary artwork as part of Coast Festival 2010, working with Cost Festival staff and the residents of the two towns.

·         Develop and deliver a series of meaningful creative activities to engage local people in developing ideas for the content of the Living-Spaces project and to enhance their understanding of the processes involved in public art. These creative activities will also explore the community’s sense of place, add meaning to the artwork and add value to the relationship between the community, the artwork and promote a sense of ownership.

Click on the below link to read conversations with artists Chris Biddlecombe

Chris Biddlecombe

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9Kc0GeDMX3fODA1ZWM1MDMtYmJkYy00YmMxLThiZDQtOGM1MWE0YzQzYmEz&hl=en

Lulu Quinn

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9Kc0GeDMX3fOTc4NGNjYTctNDFlYi00ZDgzLWEyMTMtMzMwODU2Mzk5YjEx&hl=en