Application Process:
Advert
J.A.Crabtree & Co. Ltd., was at one time Walsall’s largest engineering company, the Factory was founded in 1919 by John Ashworth Crabtree at what is now Lyndon House Hotel. In its heyday in the mid-twentieth century the company was the largest private employer in the town. The company eventually closed its manufacturing base in Walsall in 1997. Crabtree manufactured light switches, sockets and other electrical fittings when electricity use was in its infancy, John Ashworth Crabtree designed and patented the first quick make and break switch which combined stylish design with cutting edge technology.
The night includes a guided tour of the now Lyndon House Hotel by owner Ken Towe, with access to the atmospheric bars, the beautiful secret garden and to the hotel room that it is believed to have once housed Mr J A Crabtree’s office. Allan Preston, the founder of The Crabtree Society, will be joining us to share his wealth of knowledge on the life and work of J A Crabtree and to showcase the Society’s vast collection of memorabilia. Also to be showcased on the night is a 1966 produced film entitled “A Factory Day” which was produced to encourage school levers to take a career in manufacturing. This is a wonderful professional produced film which was shown to school leavers nationally.
Please email the following information: 150 words on your current practice, medium or interests.
A paragraph on why you would like to attend Attach 2-3 pieces/images of recent relevant works at low resolution/or weblinks.
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My Application
I have been following Factory Nights activity on the website and heard about them from my peers. The Crabtree factory particularly interests me because of its history and it’s creation of technology for the domestic setting. In the brief it mentions a film, which was made to encourage people to work in the factory, which I would love to see and use as research for a new performance. I hope from viewing the film and site it will inform new performative actions I can use in my work. Currently I am experimenting with video I filmed in Finland and combining this with minimal performance. Increasingly I have become fascinated and frustrated with our relationship to technology. This site visit will offer a different space to think about how technology was and still is used for the basics of domestic functionality, such as the humble electrical switch. In an age of touch screen operation when will the switch become defunct? As an artist I wonder when will I become defunct?
