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26th February 2009
The Art of Common Space is an international arts programme which explores the question 'What is common space in our 21st century multi-cultural society?' through new commissions, seminars, exhibitions and events in Gunpowder Park and venues in the UK, Europe and the USA. Curated and produced by Haring Woods Associates / Landscape+Arts Network Services, The Art of Common Space is the culmination of the five year programme of arts led research and development projects in Gunpowder Park, Essex. Drawing on the historic term of ‘the commons’, The Art of Common Space looks at the basic premise of ‘public’ space and asks if there still exists a space which we can call ‘common’ – an essential space that through its use, facilitates the celebration and bringing together of individuals from the diverse cultures that constitute our modern society. The Art of Common Space has been produced through four programme strands: Dialogues, Experience, Mapping and Research & Development. Partners in the project have included American theatre director and artist Robert Wilson and his Watermill Center in New York, international political theorist and author Benjamin Barber, founder of Interdependence Day and CivWorld, Russian artist Andre Bartenev, Guy Gypens, Artistic Director of the Kaaitheatre, Brussels, and Up Projects’ Portavilion project from Summer 2008. Over the Spring Equinox weekend, 21-22 March 2009, Gunpowder Park presents The Art of Common Space Experience, with four significant new commissions: Simon Faithfull’s epic new film 0.00 Navigation, Pilot Publishing’s inspiring off-grid Energy Café, artist studio Proboscis’ research commission Being in Common, and Usman Haque and Rob Davis’ science-art collaboration, Siphonophora. These projects will be sited throughout the 90 hectares of the Park accompanied by The Art of Common Space exhibition in the landmark Field Station, located near the Park’s main entrance on Sewardstone Road, Waltham Abbey, Essex. Activities scheduled for 11am through 6pm on both days. Documentation of the Dialogues will be on show in the Field Station including a new film by artists The People Speak; a series of new poems performed by poet Mark Gwynne Jones in and around the Portavilion project in 2008; the Parked Art symposium at the Design Museum, London; and the Redefining Common Space through Art, Architecture and Design symposium led by internationally renowned political theorist Dr. Benjamin Barber. The extensive Art of Common Space website www.artofcommonspace.org includes the Mapping strand: a resource of best practice in the public realm presenting innovative, inspiring, and challenging projects from around the world. The Research & Development strand presents 11 projects online from the unique Bright Sparks grants to creative professionals exploring new ideas about the design and use of public space. The website is also the online showcase for the Robert Wilson / Gunpowder Park workshops, soundscape and original proposals. “The Art of Common Space has provided a platform for the arts to be a leading catalyst instigating significant debate about the future of our public spaces, developing lasting international relationships that will continue the exchange of ideas and creative interdisciplinary collaborations.” Eileen Woods, Artistic Director, Gunpowder Park The Art of Common Space Experience, Gunpowder Park, 21 – 22 March 2009
Programme details: Pilot Publishing’s inspiring off-grid Energy Café project has constructed an extensive site which experiments with off-grid living and sustainable energy. Working with local food growers and volunteers from near and far, a mobile kitchen and a series of shelters now inhabit the space and they will launch into the new season with their biggest local food cook up so far, including a 'Bike-In' peddle powered cinema with Magnificent Revolution, live music and more. Proboscis’s Being in Common research commission asks what ‘common space’ means to people from different countries and backgrounds, whilst exploring the notions of kinship and belonging, property and ownership, which are so deeply connected to the meaning of ‘common’ in the English language. During the weekend, discreet and playful interventions can be discovered throughout the Park’s landscape and in the Field Station. Simon Faithfull’s epic new film 0.00 Navigation charts his physical journey along the Meridian line, which runs through Gunpowder Park. The complete film, an excerpt of which was previewed at the Zoo Art Fair 2008, will be premiered in the Field Station. Negotiating all obstacles and individuals Faithfull’s path has been recorded as a slapstick film of one man’s relentless journey through private property, schools, hospitals, abandoned rail yards and Gunpowder Park. Rob Davis and Usman Haque’s interactive installation Siphonophora fosters a new understanding between human and non-human species. Floating reactive devices in Gunpowder Park’s main lake are recording pond life activity and feeding this information live onto pachcube.com, a website collecting environmental data from sites around the world. Visitors can listen to the sounds of the water by plugging in their headphones to sockets on site. Exhibition at the Field Station, Gunpowder Park, 21-22 March 2009
Dialogues; A series of interdisciplinary discussions about 'common' space which explored the value, relevance and future of public space, brought together artists, cultural entrepreneurs, international cultural organisations and public realm specialists. Partners included the Design Museum, Up Projects, Portavilion, and through CivWorld/Demos and Interdpendence Day venues in Mexico City and Brussels. Robert Wilson Robert Wilson, theatre director and artist with an international reputation for cross-cultural collaborations, worked together with Eileen Woods, Gunpowder Park's Artistic Director to lead a series of interdisciplinary workshops at Gunpowder Park in 2006 which explored vital issues relating to public open space, and developed the first concepts for The Art of Common Space programme. Highlights from the Robert Wilson Stage A Workshop will be on view. Bright Sparks A major success of Gunpowder Park’s programming is the Bright Sparks Research & Development awards the only scheme of its kind in the world exploring new ideas about the design and use of public space. Eleven different projects including work by Newton and Helen Harrison, Michael Pinsky, Mongrel, Terry Orchard and Simon Lee Dicker will be showcased. Gunpowder Park Since its opening in 2004, Haring Woods Associates have successfully established Gunpowder Park as a significant regional and international resource for research and development into the physical and social aspects of open space, with a unique programme attracting international artists across disciplines. It has functioned as a physical and virtual focal point for exploration, innovation, communication and collaboration including projects such as Greenhouse Britain, with legendary eco-artists Newton and Helen Harrison and Arts Catalysts’ 2nd International Artists Airshow with Tomas Saraceno’s experimental solar dome ‘Poetic Cosmos of the Breath’. Haring Woods Associates Haring Woods Associates is a London based creative and strategic consultancy, established in 1996 to affect developments in the public realm through arts and culture. We work with public / private sector partnerships to develop and deliver innovative, creative solutions to public realm projects and have established a solid track record as an ideas team. www.haringwoods.com The Art of Common Space is supported by Arts Council England, East, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and Haring Woods Associates. CONTACT:
Haring Woods Associates
The Field Station, Gunpowder Park
Sewardstone Road, Waltham Abbey
Essex EN9 3GP
Mobile: +44 (0) 787 200 9249
www.haringwoods.com
www.artofcommonspace.org
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