INTERFACE

REVIEW

Brown Fields Blue Skies

Institute of Contemporary Interdisciplinary Arts, University of Bath
4 March – 12 June

Reviewed by: Zoe Shearman »

When I visited the University of Bath, the public area outside ICIA's Art Space 1 was crowded with students lobbying for their choice of Student Union Vice President. Banner painters jostled for space with chefs-for-the day rustling up pancakes to encourage votes for their nominated candidate. Fly-posted leaflets bore slogans such as 'Rick for Welfare and Diversity' and 'Cole for Comms'. Although determined by self-interest, this activity seemed to reflect the unprecedented political awakening of the UK student community since January. Responses to the ongoing suffering in Gaza, sit-ins or soft 'occupations' of university spaces have been largely unreported in the media. The protests have highlighted a rise in political awareness among a new generation raised in the shadow of the Iraq war debate and the current global economic crisis. Many of the twenty or so universities involved have responded to peaceful sit-ins by taking draconian measures such as sending in private security agents to drag students outside into the snow. Such crackdowns on the resurgence in activism have also exposed the way in which, rather than being centres of debate and intellectual engagement, universities have in recent years been transformed into economic enterprises in which student apathy is good for business.

In this university context, documentation of another 'occupation' of contested territory was presented. In 2007 and 2008, the collaborative group Tea were artists in residence at Widnes Waterfront, a large area of wasteland that lies between Widnes town centre and the Mersey Estuary. In a state of decline from its industrial past, the location is in transition. A centre of the UK chemical industry from the industrial revolution to the mid 1970s, it is now being 'regenerated' for commerce, light industry, homes and leisure.

Tea (Peter Hatton, Val Murray and Lynn Pilling) were commissioned by Halton Borough Council to take up residency around a historic route to the waterside that will survive the redevelopment, bordered by derelict land, a railway line and canal. the response of the artists was to set up a series of temporary 'hides' to which they invited people with different interests in the area, including landscape and regeneration specialists, a naturalist, a chemical industry historian, business people and local residents. those who visited were offered hospitality and invited to participate in a series of facilitated dialogues with one another and the artists. The design of each 'hide' related to past or proposed future use of the specific location (for example, from a chemical factory to a park). The primary outcomes of the project were a combined map and 'hide' log documenting the process and observations, distributed as an insert into a magazine produced by the Economic Development Team. Also, a video that can be viewed at www.widneswaterfront.co.uk/brownfieldsblueskies

It is a shame that although 'Brown Fields Blue Skies' is an interesting artist-led participatory project, the decisions made about its presentation at ICIA led to a partial and unsatisfying experience. Art Space 1 functions, in part, as a corridor through which students and staff pass through on their way to a café, and so offers potential for engaging interest. However, the presentation of photographic documentation and enlarged wall mounted versions of the leaflet alone did not reflect the complexities of the project or engage in any meaningful way with contemporary curatorial practice. The installation did not expand upon reading the leaflet and viewing the video at my desk. I imagine it was decided not to present the video or other aspects of the process in this unvigilated space, but more effort could have been made to engage people. the way the project was re-contextualised without criticality or imagination compromised its integrity and reduced its layers of meaning to a signifier driven by university research objectives.

Writer detail:
Zoe Shearman is a curator based in Bristol.

Venue detail:
ICIA - Institute of Contemporary Interdisciplinary Arts »
University Of Bath, Claverton Down, BATH BA2 7AY

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