V&A Museum Community Artist in Residence

Definitely settled in as Community Artist: collaborating with local art projects, connecting with the V&A collections and mapping out my own artistic concerns.
First off, spray painting at the Henry Dickens Court Community Centre. Local children working with TMO, Steph Perkins and lead artist, Claire Rye, have produced a great picture that will be attached to the hoarding of the building site at More West. It was good to see the design on paper turned into the completed image. Local artist, James Mercer had the amusing idea of incorporating Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; the building site has a female crane driver who works with an all male crew.
There is never a dull or quiet moment at the studio.
Although I’ve recently been diagnosed with otosclerosis, which is beginning to affect my powers of hearing, I’m constantly alerted to activity at the front of house and back garden. There are daily deliveries to the building site with large trucks stopping outside the flat. Last week, I was chatting to my Tunisian neighbour, Kacim, when a concrete staircase was being delivered. This looked very photogenic and I had to dash off for my camera; hope he didn’t think me rude!
Speaking of photography, I’m grateful to Liz Grant at RIBA for supplying books for my studio. Anyone interested in architectural photography, should check out RIBApix. Looking forward to viewing hard copies in their library.
Natalie Marr from group-work also dropped off a recent publication – Staying Put: An Anti- Gentrification Handbook for Council Estates in London.
The studio I’m based at on 7 Shalfleet Drive is a former council house connected to Silchester Estate. This side of the road will be demolished in January 2015 after the residents have moved into new property at More West. RBKC council and Peabody are providing approximately 120 new homes for rent, shared ownership and sale on the open market.
Two recent discussions I’ve had at my studio, have brought into focus the complex issues around estate regeneration and the affordability of housing. As an artist I’m located at the core of these changes to the built environment, reflecting on the impacts they might have on local residents and the potential they offer for the future development of the area and its communities.
Never a dull moment.
I opened my front door one morning and saw two women in the street. They asked about the new development as they were thinking of buying a flat. Mother and daughter, Sacha and Cecily, were duly invited in and later got to meet, Joanna Sutherland, who is the architect behind More West. They have a historic family connection with nearby Hammersmith. Cecily, the daughter, has rented in North Kensington over the past few years and is looking for a home near the Electric Cinema where she works. They expressed concern about “affordability” as the cheapest housing units to buy are £400,000. How will this also impact on the local area (primarily council estates) and the community being formed around the new housing?
Another discussion: much more heated, not dull.
I had a visit from Edward who lives at nearby Grenfell Tower. He has been involved in a campaign regarding the future of the Tower and the redevelopment of land around the Lancaster West Estate. The latter is providing a new academy and sports centre. His first words to me, roughly paraphrased were: “If you are not for us, then you have no right being here!” Pity the conversation was primarily one way. However I was troubled by the pain and isolation of Edward’s feelings. This is a challenge for a community artist whose funding remit is positive community engagement.
The fab film, Leo The Last, was shot on Testerton Road, before this was demolished for the building of the Lancaster West Estate in the early 1970s. I’m trying to get the BFI to make a copy available for screening as part of my residency. A screening at the estate, followed by a project around housing issues, might be one possible form of engagement.
Maybe I was due a quiet moment.
At the V&A Museum we also find building works for a new gallery space. Kids are splashing about at the courtyard pool. Did I really hear one of my favourite Lee Scratch Perry songs, Chase The Devil, in the John Madeski Garden? Anyway, I met up with Martin Bastone who took me on a guided tour of the building. Fascinating to learn about its association with WW2 spies. I definitely want to visit the dome and see those panoramic views. Martin had previously assisted me in ensuring my studio was a safe place to work and hold workshops.
I’ve been sketching in the Sacred Silver and Stained Glass Gallery. This is connecting me to Nathaniel Westlake (see previous blog), one of the leading stain glass artists of the 19th century. He had a house built for him a short stroll from where I am based in North Kensington.
Also just around the corner is the historic Harrow Club. This was a former church, built in 1887 by Richard Norman Shaw, who is the subject of an exhibition at the Royal Academy. I’m planning on running a summer workshop at the Club evoking the history of the building and its current use as a vibrant community centre. This will involve local residents and children making “stain glass” images on OHP transparency film and for these to be placed on the windows of the building. The design might collate together stain glass and urban graphic art. There seems to be an interesting visual co-relation between these otherwise sacred and “profane” genres.
I have also been working on some paper models for an architectural themed workshop. I’ve not worked in this format before, so it’s doubly exciting to be able to share new skills and discoveries. There is a RIBA and V&A educational resource that I can dip into. I now need to think about building a panoramic installation for the display of these models. The garden space at the studio will suffice for the moment.
On Saturday 2nd August, I have an Open Studio day. This is from 10-5pm at 7 Shalfleet Drive, W10 6UF. The studio is directly opposite Latimer Road tube station. I will have art on display and info about workshops to be held at the studio and V&A Museum. It would be great to meet more local residents and find out about their experiences. If you would like to visit, please R.S.V.P : [email protected].

I’m getting closer to starting my Community Artist in Residence, hopefully by the end of June. Many thanks to RBKC and the V&A Museum for working out the logistics of establishing a studio space at 7 Shalfleet Drive. This is a former council house property and will eventually become part of the new building development at More West.

Cycling around North Kensington, one can see and hear the numerous regeneration schemes. These range from luxury apartments at The Ladbroke Grove to mixed private and social housing at Wornington Green . All providing much-needed housing, although there is the perennial question of affordability and potential impacts on community. Other new builds include a leisure centre and Academy school.

As part of my background research, I’m looking at the historic pattern of housing development in the borough and the architectural quality of buildings and listed structures. This will provide a useful context for understanding the complex social process of urban renewal. I will be involving local residents and community groups in art that explores this theme. Working with St Anne’s Nursery School (1908, one of the oldest in London) will be exciting. Really interested to see how their kids make panoramic drawings and convert these into a cityscape model.

The attached drawing indicates how I will be merging the past and present to signpost the future.

Top right we have the Ladbroke Estate taking shape from the 1820’s-70s. This was a boom and bust period that chimes with our most recent recession. Housing is being built on the fields and privately owned plots in West London. In the sketch, we can see speculative business men, planners and architects, theodolites and topographical designs. Thomas Allason and Thomas Allom gave us the distinctive lay-out of terraces, garden squares and the majestic St Peter’s church

Top left, there are pre and post-war developments with estates and high-rises. This is mass social housing built London councils and architects like Erno Goldfinger. Buildings with modern amenities that replaced so-called “slums” in the borough. More West is currently being built in relation to the pre-existing Silchester Estate and will involve the re-housing of some of the tenants on the estate.

Bottom left in the sketch are the various apartment blocks for More West with an inner garden and a roof-sculpture made by Nathan Coley. The new housing has been designed by architect Joanna Sutherland from Haworth Tompkins. We see her, sketched, bottom centre, as a designer of the built environment in the tradition of Allason and Allom.

My game plan is to feature all of these (materials, methods and personnel) in the various art and film projects during my six month residency.

Have we but enough time, space and imagination?

As a child during the 1970s, I would be consuming American popcorn movies at the ABC Edgware Road / Harrow Road. I recall When The North Wind Blows (man co-exists with tiger, 1974) and King Kong (men in conflict with giant ape, 1976).

Driving past the cinema and on another plane of reality was the author J G Ballard. Using the recently built Westway “motorway” from central London to his home in Shepperton, Ballard would pass the faded visage of the ABC with its local community displaced by slum clearance and road building. Further on he might spy the iconic Brutalist Trellick Tower and ponder the news headlines critiquing the social housing bloc that had degenerated into vandalism and tenant isolation. Nearing the West Cross interchange, perhaps Ballard has a vicarious thrill: hand caressing the steering wheel; foot poking the accelerator; car sliding and swerving, dangerously.

This type of imaginative journey across the Westway would inform the subject matter of Ballard’s seminal trilogy: Crash (1973), Concrete Island (1974) and High Rise (1975).

In these dystopian texts, Ballard is inverting the 1960s confidence in high rises and inner city motorways. These were seen at the time as progressive solutions to housing and transport needs.

The Guardian recently celebrated Ballard, five years on (after death). Seven writers articulated what was unique and memorable about his work. Many visual artists and film makers could also reference the impact of his writing. I first discovered Ballard in the early 1980s as a moody teen listening to Joy Division. I revisited Ballard in 2010 when devising Flood Light. This involved a film making guided tour under the Westway and a re-enactment from Concrete Island. I have also made a trio of short films about the urban environment of the area with Ballard as a guiding spirit.

At an art event recently, I met Ray, who during the 1970s lived in the twenty-floor high rise, Frinstead House, on the Silchester Estate. He may or may not have been turned on and tuned in. But he was definitely having apocalyptic visions of vehicles dropping out of the concrete sky. This was a nightmare that came true. Ray recounted, how one day, he witnessed a lorry crashing over the barrier and bursting into flames.

On a related note, I recently read an archive letter written by Fred Vermorel and published in the Times in Nov 1978. Fred is now Associate Professor of Communication at The American University in London. Back in the day he was living at Frinstead House with his wife Judy. They could almost have been characters in the scary fictional High Rise of J. G. Ballard. This is what Fred wrote to the press:

“The noise is sickening. We live day and night with the unceasing thunder of motor vehicles…. All this noise hits our home directly. It is impossible to read, think or listen to music.

I must confess that the vandalism which is slowly eating away this particular estate elates rather than horrifies us. How else does one react? The GLC is still building unsheltered dwellings all along the Westway. With millions of pounds worth of expertise and materials, it is disseminating the suffering and environmental poverty I have described: factory farms for psychosis and barbarity.”

Fred and Judy Vermorel were being driven out of their senses, but successfully campaigned to be rehoused. However we should note, they still found time while at Frinstead House during 1978-79, to write the first book about the Sex Pistols and produce a punk song for the Cash Pussies.

During my forthcoming V&A Museum Community Artist in Residence, I hope to be based in a studio next to the high-rise, Frinstead House. I will definitely tap into the creative energy of Ballard and the DIY spirit of punk. But I also need to provide a counter-measure to the radicalism of Ballard and stereotypical perceptions about estate culture. Estates are not a car crash. Dig beneath the veneer and talk to people who have made this their home. There is a space here for high quality, multi-cultural and collaborative art.

I’m delighted to announce my appointment as the Victoria & Albert Museum’s first Community Artist in Residence. Although we haven’t quite confirmed details, I will hopefully be based in an artists studio on the site, directly opposite Latimer Road tube station. We hope this will be in late summer or autumn for a period of three months.
This is a scheme funded by the V&A Museum and RIBA, and supported by Peabody, Hayworth Tompkins and RBKC.
Social and community engagement will be the primary focus of my residency. Namely, the creation of art by interaction and dialogue with the local community and to relate this to the new housing development.
I propose to run fortnightly, structured sessions with residents, schools and local artists. These might vary from drawing classes, photography, clay making or film making as I propose to work in a variety of media. Residents will have the opportunity to observe work in progress, learn skills and have fun.
The studio will also be open for visitors. There will be a range of information about the rich and complex history of the area, including maps, photos and short films.
I’m not sure whether my residency will coincide with the arrival of new residents. If so, I would be very keen to liaise between old and new residents. Art used to foster a sense of identity and community. This might be realised in the making of a short film about the housing project and my residency.
The residency will be a great opportunity for me to build on the foundations of previous work: Flood Light (2010) and West Ten, Fade Out (2013). Most importantly, the Latymer Mapping Project (2012-13), a collaborative project with group+work and local residents. This produced an alternative community map of North Kensington that focused on historical and contemporary issues related to housing and regeneration.
Having a studio adjacent to the new housing will allow me to observe and respond to the construction process. I have a personal interest in this as my father was a carpenter and worked on housing projects from the 1940s – 1980s. I would like to sample some of the materials being used for the construction (brickwork, paints, decorative finishes) and to feature this in art work.
As this is also a V&A residency, I will connect with the following collections at the museum: Architecture, Ceramics, Drawings and Photography. It will be a pleasure to have access to specific art objects and the insight of curators.
Themes that I might want to explore during my residency include:
• how the new housing will contribute to the regeneration of the area
• why the Silchester development was commended at the New London Architecture Awards in 2013
• the role of an artist in relation to community and social issues
A community artist should also flourish in the company of other artists. I will therefore invite my fellow resident artists at the V&A to share their practice and ideas about engagement, and hopefully work with them on some collaborative projects.
There is also a public sculptural artwork being created for the roof of the new building. This will be designed by Nathan Coley. Nathan was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2007 and his practice explores how architecture reflects and conditions the social environment.
A feast of art making and sharing is coming to North Kensington and the V&A Museum over summer and autumn 2014. I am privileged to be a part of this.