Well – with relief I must say – I have finished the work. Having spent a truly manic last few weeks completing the third section, I have this morning delivered the work at artsdepot ready for installation on Thursday.
The third section was originally going to be about mapping social networks and how the traditional paper based map was beginning to become obsolete due to GPS. It has in fact become about something else.
Whilst working on this project the government announced its spending cuts and as a result it is known that several libraries in Barnet borough will close and that local government funding is being withdrawn for the artsdepot. One of my main sources for the paper I have used has been from the libraries in Barnet and I have visited many of them at a time when their futures are vulnerable. Talking to the invariably helpful librarians has shown how uncertain everyone feels about it and also how unsure of what the criteria will be to keep any particular library safe from closure.
Demonstrations, whole schools enrolling and other strategies are being employed but the facts are some of these highly valued hubs will go.
In response to these uncertain times the work is still about the future, but rather than being about different forms of mapping it is about the places which have enabled its creation. The first layer is made up primarily of the routes to each of the library locations. The subsequent shadows are made up from paper from the libraries. Onto some of this I have printed articles about the demonstrations and the proposed local government policies. It has a rather more chaotic feel than the two sections I made before – this is down to processes I employ – but I feel this suits the subject well; that of disruption and the unknown. 100,000 cuts…
