The context of the event is real and hyper-real (virtual), using streaming video to create a hybrid space, with some sense of where we are and where our partners are too, merging into a new space full of possibilities. The e-space lab project and partners at Shanghai University College of Fine Arts are working together to realize some of this potential in a sequence of events through 2010. This will include events that coincide with the World Expo taking place in Shanghai from May, and the Shanghai Biennale, that is scheduled this year to parallel the Expo during the summer, and the Liverpool Biennial that takes place this coming autumn.
From the e-space lab explorations and experiments over the last few years, our strong interest in working in an international context relates to the way trans-national communication always involves some sort of conscious re-configuring of our assumptions about our knowledge base. In other words we know that we don't know, but we have an opportunity in our conversations with others in other places to spontaneously act on that knowledge, with a question, or some other probe, that may take the form of an art based activity as much as an exchange of information and concepts.
This is also a space where new ideas happen! They come into existence because of a conversation and a mis-understanding, mis-interpretation, mis-reading. In this space between listening, speaking, and trying to understand, this idea in a misunderstanding may possibly be the starting point for a new approach. In e-space lab during the period of the parallel biennials in Shanghai and Liverpool we discovered that conversations stimulate the instigation of new projects. Until our blog was blocked, along with loads of others in April last year, we were able to bounce ideas and research back and forth in a way that approached a sort of visual poetry through the juxtaposition of ideas and images that resonated out of the differences rather more than the similarities.
Where translation occurs, when fuzzy images pixillate, freeze and then resume, when ideas are first presented and then absorbed, it all takes time. This first art in the cities event is very ambitious in what it attempts to achieve, and so realistically it is good to be patient and to "chill out" in this space rather than chase the ideas too hard. In the e-space lab project we are used to this slow time, and it is very rich and stimulating to take the time to explore and understand. If we do not manage to cover all the material, address all of the questions that we want to, then the technology allows us to keep in touch, so the conversation does not end.
In Shanghai we will be in conversation with key agents of change in the development of public realm oriented projects. In particular we will be learning about how the investment in the public transport infrastructure of the Shanghai Metro includes an ambition to utilize the techniques of art to bring a new dimension to public experience in Liverpool's sister city.
In Liverpool we are presenting material about the story of a project in St Helens known as the Dream, or alternatively, "the big head". This is on of several large scale Public Art projects on Merseyside
The Liverpool Biennial has been involved in instigating a rich and diverse set of public realm art projects on Merseyside over the years.
Three projects in particular have gained a degree of public interest that is remarkable. These projects have created new identities in places that were often neglected, creating new meanings, and impacting on a wider social, cultural and economic sphere.
It is relatively straightforward to access imagery on the internet of the particular examples we are going to discuss, because the “public” keep posting their individual images and videos into the virtual environments all of the time. This I take to be a sign of positive imaginative connectivity between people and art in the cities on Merseyside.
Antony Gormley’s Another Place has opened up a new wider interest in the sandy beaches of Crosby with the installation of iron figures stretching along the tidal zone north along the coast from the docks at Bootle. Before the public art project was realised, this area was used to a much lesser extent than it is now, and mostly by local people. Another Place has generated a wider awareness and sense of ownership of this beautiful landscape with views of Liverpool Bay and, on a clear day, the mountains of Wales in the distance.
This awareness has now leaped on to a national scale, so when, for example, a national newspaper like the Times has a special section called Mapping British Business that refers to Merseyside, it is a photo of one of Gormley’s figures on the beach that is used to connect to a wider national consciousness about the region. It is iconic.
Turning the place over by Richard Wilson is another one of the Biennial instigated public art projects that has had some local and national impact, making a city landmark out of a relatively unspectacular part of the urban landscape.
The recent opening of the Dream on the site of the old pit, right on the edge of the Merseyside town of St. Helens, prompts our discussion of a specific example of public art on Merseyside.
Dream, is the dramatic new sculpture for St.Helens and the Northwest by Catalan artist Jaume Plensa, launched with a spectacular event on Sunday 31 May that involved hundreds of people from the local community and visitors from across the country.
Chosen by a group of ex-miners and commissioned by St.Helens Council as part of The Big Art Project, the work stands 20 metres high, sited on top of the former Sutton Manor Colliery overlooking the M62, a gateway sculpture for both Merseyside and Greater Manchester at the heart of the Northwest.
The Dream videos – Chapter 1
Our first video chapter of Dream-The Story is a clip from the Channel 4 series of programmes that both documented and contributed to the realization of the Dream, in the context of The Big Art Project, an ambitious public art commissioning initiative from Channel 4 supported by Arts Council England.
The video shows some of the former miners from Sutton Manor Colliery walking over the raised ground that covers the old pit, recently “re-natured” rather than restored, by the Forestry Commission, another agency supporting the project. At this stage the project is framed by the idea of “a monument”.
The next stage involves the story that Paul Kelly and Brigitte Jurack of Foreign Investments will tell us about working with some of the community to explore new possibilities with and for the site.
The Dream videos – Chapter 2
The second video shows the unveiling of the selected proposal by Jaume Plensa. The work takes the form of the head of a little girl with eyes closed, seemingly in a dream-like state. It is the artist’s response to the brief and subsequent conversations with the ex-miners and members of the wider local community who wanted a work that looked to a brighter future and created a beautiful and contemplative space for future generations, not least their own grandchildren, at the top of the former spoil heap. The work has been fabricated in pre-cast concrete, with a very white, almost luminescent finish using a white marble/concrete aggregate mix in marked contrast to the black of the coal that still lies below.
The Focus Group unanimously chose Jaume Plensa, a world class artist who has exhibited and completed major commissions across the globe, including in Canada, Israel, Japan, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
His hitherto most famous work was The Crown Fountain (2004) in Millennium Park in the centre of Chicago.
The Dream videos – Chapter 3
The third video chapter shows something of the process of realization and the sense of anticipation and passion for the project that grew among many members of the local community. The scale and design of the artwork, together with the nature of the site and former spoil heap, presented considerable technical challenges in terms of being able to translate the ambitious concept into a real 20 metre high sculpture.
Engineering firm Arup was appointed as the lead consultant responsible for technical design, tendering and overseeing the construction process, and, following detailed site investigations, a number of workshops were held to find practicable solutions to these challenges. The chosen material was a bespoke mixture of white cement, Spanish dolomite, and titanium dioxide pigment, in order to lend Dream a brilliant, reflective, luminescent, white finish. Full 3-D modelling was required in order to calculate the complex geometries involved and facilitate both the pre-cast concrete moulding process and the actual assembly of the artwork. Panel sizes, joint and fixing types and locations, plus handling, loading and transportation requirements were also paramount and discussed in minute detail.
Due to its size and weight, the eventual configuration was made up of 54 individual panels for the head element of the sculpture and a further 36 for the plinth, each one determined both by artistic requirements and the two-fold connection system used to hold the panels together and in effect create an integrated monolithic structure.
A series of highly specialised sub-contractors were involved and the spectacular result is in part a testament to their skill and commitment: Cheetham Hill Construction Ltd. as lead contractor; Cordek to manufacture the 90 individual moulds; Evans Concrete to cast and assemble the 90 concrete panels; ICP to help install them.
The Big Art Project in St.Helens has been delivered by St.Helens Council, in partnership with the national funders. The project was curated by Liverpool Biennial, with the active involvement of a group of former miners from Sutton Manor Colliery. Curator Laurie Peake, the Programme Director: Public Art at Liverpool Biennial, took the ex-miners on a unique public art "voyage of discovery", to Emscher Park in Germany, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and the Liverpool Biennial. The project has especially impressed many in the arts field in that the public response has been so positive and passionate, and that it provides a model for practice in this social dimension, there is no doubt.
The Dream videos – Chapter 4
The fourth video chapter is taken from a documentary on the artists’s work, available in various sections on YouTube. Here you can see the sense of excitement and celebration in the opening of the project and how the relationship of the artist to the former miners who instigated the project, and the local community is so important to the meanings being created through the project.
Born in Barcelona, Jaume has exhibited all over the world and completed major commissions in Canada, Israel, Japan, France, Germany, and the United States. His most famous work is the dramatic “Crown Fountain” in the centre of Chicago. Jaume’s public artworks in the UK include a laser beam light sculpture at the Baltic Arts Centre in Gateshead and, most recently, a spectacular new sculpted and illuminated glass dome for the BBC’s Broadcasting House HQ in London.
The Dream videos - Chapter 5
The fifth video chapter is a clip from the Big Art debates where Gary, one of the former miners explains how the exchange between artist and representatives of the community and former miners ended up in this very positive outcome. The St. Helens group respected but challenged the way the artist was trying to imagine the result of the project trying to see through the miner’s eyes. The respect given to the artist by the former miners resulted in the artist being invited to interpret the project through the artist’s eyes.
The first idea Jaume presented was titled The Miners’s Soul, which took the form of a large light akin to a miner's lamp on a circular plinth. Amazingly, the concept was rejected by the ex-miners and Steering Group on the basis that it was too directly representational of mining and the past.
Jaume then shared his original idea for the site which he had held back, fearing it possibly too daring/conceptual. That concept was the Dream which both the ex-miners and Steering Group unanimously and enthusiastically endorsed.
Dream takes the form of a 20 metre high girl's head with her eyes closed, seemingly in a dream-like state, resting on a plinth bearing the inscription "Dream Sutton Manor" inspired by the small, circular "tally" each miner carried as a means of identification.
The notion is simple but profound, for in Jaume's own words "in our dreams, anything is possible...".
The Dream concept was not only the artist's response to the brief and its ex terra lucem (out of the earth comes light) "Leitmotif", but also directly informed by Jaume's conversations with the ex-miners and other members of the local community about their aspirations.
What had clearly emerged from these discussions was that, far from wanting a mining monument, they sought instead a forward-looking piece that would provide a beautiful, inspiring, contemplative space for generations to come.
In Jaume's words, "Despite her wonderful vantage point and view, the girl's eyes are closed, looking inward. This is in part my homage to the miners and their dream of light when underground."
Dream was officially launched on May 31st 2009.
Bathed in glorious sunshine, thousands of people enjoyed a traditional Whit Walk to the summit of Sutton Manor, with a May Queen and her entourage, performances by the Greenalls and Valley brass bands and the Sing Out Choir, together with ex-miners and guest of honour, artist Jaume Plensa.
The Dream website says
The artwork has already had a substantial positive impact:
- Dream has generated worldwide media coverage and been shortlisted for the prestigious Marsh Sculpture Prize awarded for the best public sculpture of the year.
- Dream is attracting very significant numbers of additional visitors to the site and the surrounding region, including many photographers, coach trips, and people from abroad.
- Dream has already established itself as an icon, appearing in place marketing and inward investment literature, annual reports and private sector advertising.
- Local residents now have a new and enhanced leisure resource on their doorstep while the whole artistic development process has stimulated and rekindled passion, pride and creativity within the immediate community.
- In external research conducted at the launch, 85% of respondents believed that Dream can help create a positive image for St.Helens and attract people to the area, while 75% believed that Dream will become an icon for the Northwest.
A high impact legacy has always been an explicit objective for Dream, and the challenge now is to sustain and build on the positive momentum generated by its launch.
This legacy is intended to take three different forms:
- A direct Dream legacy: securing the permission and resources to illuminate the artwork; establishing a social enterprise to build on existing community engagement activities and get accredited training for volunteers/guides; generating revenue from Dream merchandising to reinvest in its maintenance and other public art initiatives; longer-term, the aspiration is for a visitor centre.
- A wider public art legacy: establishing a local public art board; producing a Borough-wide public art strategy; developing/delivering specific identified projects, including the ambitious "Industrial Alchemy" initiative inspired by Emscher Park in Germany's Ruhr Valley; lending critical mass to the development of a Northwest trail of world class public art.
- Broader regeneration impact: public art to become a genuine new USP for St.Helens within 15 years, helping to transform/improve St.Helens' image and so attract ever-increasing number of visitors, stimulate additional inward investment and indigenous reinvestment, while raising local aspirations and enhancing civic pride; catalysing the establishment of a new 300 hectare regional forest park and outdoor pursuits destination; strengthening the sub-regional programme of rural economic development being led by St.Helens Council.
