Phase 3 - Week Nine
Week Nine
Feedback from Case Study Review
Last week I had the Case Study review, which I personally didn’t find very helpful at all with the response that I got given which was a shame. I did however feel that it pushed me to create and think about my ideas which I was procrastinating over.
He mentioned that it sounds like it has great potential. Also mentioned that I should look at the Amsterdam light festival across the Canal.
From other peoples Talks, I wrote down some notes looking at potentially what other people are doing but also how collaborating with others in some sort of creative challenge could also work.
Amsterdam Light Festival
“During the winter months, the annual Amsterdam Light Festival (ALF) illuminates the city with brilliant works of light art. Each year, hundreds of ideas are submitted by designers, architects and artists from around the world. A selection committee usually chooses about 30 artworks that make up the festival’s installations. Past years have featured the work of prominent artists such as Ai Weiwei and Nicole Banowetz.”https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/see-and-do/whats-on/major-events-and-celebrations/amsterdam-light-festival
I looked at the last light festival within Amsterdam and I think this is a perfect case study that looks at how artists respond to a brief thats given to them and have free reign on how they choose to move forward. This year’s brief is when nature calls so all the responses are to do with that. I especially like the water we breathe project that has words instead of just shapes / faces. I think this is more intriguing but also telling the viewer something so obvious! They have made a festival that continously happens each year but also gaining people to attend the festival and to also apply by local artists and designers. I am glad that I was reminded to look at how this case study works but also the beautiful outcomes.
Plan to Move forward
Updated personal action plan
Since I wasn’t given that much feedback towards my project, the updated personal action plan that I updated in week 8 still applies. But I created a more detailed plan of the things I wanted to achieve from week to week which can be seen below in a week by week plan:
This week by week plan was shown within the panel review last week. I have also created a list version:
I feel this could change as the weeks progress and who I actually manage to contact / Interview.
I also decided to change how I approached each blog with a plan for the week, which will either be taken from my personal action plan or a continuation of the previous week. I feel this will allow me to keep on task with what I need to do for each of the weeks.
Feedback Session - Dan
As I mentioned earlier this week I was really disappointed with the limited feedback I was given towards my idea, when I spoke about this within a tutorial session with Dan, he gave me some things to think about.
Reviewing Industrial spaces
Artists Involved?
Cultural Identity - Two different things?
Other capitals?
Previous Examples of other cities
Pockets of creative interest
Spaces that you can build communities
Workshops
Start with the User!
Focus for this week:
From the session with Dan and the updated action plan, I decided to look at previous examples of the City of Culture, Spaces that potentially could become community spaces throughout Southampton:
Previous examples for Literature Review:
Derry City of Culture:
UK City of Culture is a fantastic showcase of the huge impact culture has in towns and cities across the country. From Derry-Londonderry, to Hull and Coventry, previous winners have shown how the competition can deliver greater cultural participation, drive economic regeneration and boost local pride. I encourage towns and cities across the UK to put forward bids for 2025 and champion their local arts and culture scene. I’m also delighted to confirm the competition will run in future years, as a sign of our commitment to levelling up culture across the whole of the UK.” https://www.gov.uk/government/news/search-for-the-next-uk-city-of-culture-launched
I think the following article about the sucess of the Derry City of Culture was really important for me to read as I have only seen the forefront of the work that goes on behind the scenes to even be apart of the bid but not actually what it can do to a city;
“MORE people visited Derry over 2016 than during its celebrated year as City of Culture, it has been revealed. It is now five years since Derry began its reign as the first ever UK City of Culture, a year it was hoped would establish it as a centre for culture, music and the arts. And while 2013 witnessed a number of high-profile difficulties, the two men who served as mayor believe it has transformed Derry's fortunes. Sinn Féin councillor Kevin Campbell was mayor for the first half of the year while the SDLP's Martin Reilly took on the mantle of first citizen for the second half.Mr Campbell said the big winner in economic terms was the hospitality sector, demonstrated by the number of new hotels and bars that have opened in and around the city centre.
“The year itself was a huge success economically. In 2013, there were 535,000 visitors to the city and 28,000 hotel rooms were sold out; that gives a sense of how good it was,” he said.
Derry's tourism infrastructure underwent a huge makeover for the year of culture - a process that has continued since then. This has included an overhaul of Guildhall Square and Waterloo Place as well as the development of the city's new maritime museum at Ebrington Square which is due for completion next year.
“The big events like the Clipper festival, the Fleadh and the Return of Colmcille during 2013 show that Derry is a 100 per cent different place from what it was before the culture year. 2013 has established Derry as a go-to tourism destination,” Mr Campbell said.
There were some problems during the year of culture including the high-profile sacking of its director of communications after he expressed concerns over the project's marketing budget.A number of members of the Culture Company established to manage the year also resigned after it was decided to wind the organisation up early. Some claimed the move would impact on the project's legacy for the city. However, Mr Reilly said the evidence of the year's success is clear. “To me, one of the big things was that last year (2016) there were more visitors here than in 2013; that speaks for itself,” he said. The former mayor said the main legacy is the way in which the city's image has been transformed. Before the culture year, Derry was better known as the birthplace of the Troubles while now it is looked on as a key tourist attraction.
“People view us differently; they now see Derry as a place to come and see. In the past, people may not have believed they would be safe coming to Derry. “I think we also view ourselves differently; the city has a greater sense of civic pride."There has been the development of a sense of belief in Derry's ability to host large scale events like the Fleadh, MTV and BBC One Big Weekend. The Hallowe'en carnival is better than in the past; the Clipper festival has come back again and again.” As well as the economic legacy, benefits for the arts have included the drawing up of a 10-year plan for culture development to be launched in this month. Mr Reilly conceded there were some disappointments including the fact that “The Venue”, a huge temporary arena erected for the culture year, could not be maintained after 2013.
Coventry City of Culture:
The present city of culture city is Coventry, again due to the privacy of the final bid they are only able to share some of the themes and the visions that allowed them to win the bid. The main programme principles; ‘a community-led creative programme reflecting the diversity, youth and aspiration of the city. We will continue to encourage every citizen to be creative’ https://warwick.ac.uk/about/cityofculture/researchresources/city_of_culture_public_bid_2018.pdf
‘This is for you, accessibility and learning will be at the heart of everything that we do’
‘From us with love, artistic led capacity building, ensuring all projects have legacy. We will invite national and international artists to work with our existing organisation to produce work in Coventry to make a sustainable difference in the future’
https://warwick.ac.uk/about/cityofculture/researchresources/city_of_culture_public_bid_2018.pdf
Within the document that was produced by the city of Coventry to outline what they would spend the money on. It has some ideas of festivals, centres and different projects that will allow the city of Coventry to spend their winnings in a better way.
“UK City of Culture is a competition run by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) every four years. Previous winners are Derry/Londonderry in 2013 and Hull who had their year in 2017.
Both cities experienced a major boost in tourism, as people travelled to visit all of the incredible events that the teams had organised. Cities also benefited from an increase in investors opening new businesses and more opportunities to support the local community, not just for the year but with a legacy which took on the challenge of ‘what happens next?’.”https://coventry2021.co.uk/about/what-is-uk-city-of-culture/
Coventry Manifesto;
“THIS IS THE CITY
WHERE MOVEMENT BEGAN
WE HAVE TRANSFORMED
RAW STEEL
INTO RACING MACHINES
WE MOVE EVERY HEART
TURNING FLAMES INTO
HOPE & RUIN INTO BEAUTY
TWO TONES
INTO ONE VOICE
WE ARE YOUNG STREETS
& CURIOUS EYES
BOUNDLESS ENERGY
WILL MOVE US FORWARD
AS TIMELESS WORDS ARE
MADE NEW ON CITY STREETS
A MILLION AND MORE
JOURNEYS BEGIN HERE
THE POWER TO MOVE
IS ALWAYS IN OUR BLOOD
COVENTRY MOVES”
https://coventry2021.co.uk/about/our-story/
Potential Community Spaces Southampton:
To start this I tried to think of some of the current community spaces that could be used as spaces for collaboration / getting together with other artists and designers:
These were the three space that I think could be developed into more of a community space for the creatives of Southampton:
Abandoned Offices Spaces;
As like many cities across the UK, Southampton has had alot of businesses and offices get left abandoned due to the covid pandemic. I feel that if these were in a central location for all the people within the City this would lead to more people wanting to or being able to access more creative community help or community help. I know there are organisations but this could be a different type of space for the communities needs. Maybe local creative run for local creatives?
City Art Gallery:
The city art gallery used to host a range of workshops and events for local artists and the local community, they have since got rid of the local workshop spaces which is SO sad for the community as this was a place I have so many fond memories as a kid. I feel with the extra money from the city of culture. this place could thrive with a bit of love and care for the culture community. They have the space which is on the lower floor next to the library which I think they are developing to be more library space, but this would be such a central location for the community to get together.
John Hansard Gallery:
John Hansard Gallery I spoke about previously but they hold a space for their film community within the gallery. Now the gallery space is small but they do have lectures and many rooms that I think would be great to have some of the local community share their own art work within. They could also develop their lower gallery room to become a space for the Culture Community. Southampton has mentioned that this is one of their prized culture spaces within the city and very central access for everyone.
If this is the direction that I want to go in to house some of the Southampton community and to design them a new space, the above would be an interesting area to explore further in another week.
Weekly Summary
This week I started being a bit lost with the Direction of my project due to the lack of feedback from last week, I think talking to dan and some of the other creatives within the Review allowed me to see many different directions for my project but also that I was in-fact on the right path. Having a weekly outline of what I want to achieve each week but also a vague plan for each week will allow me to stay on top of the project moving forward. I also found it really helpful to do some research on the previous city of culture, as this gave me an insight into what the city of culture does for each of the cities.
Resources
Amsterdam Light Festival (n.d.). Amsterdam Light Festival 2020-2021 - Edition #9. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX2t-Tcvgpc
City of Culture (n.d.). COVENTRY’S UK CITY OF CULTURE BID. [online] Available at: https://warwick.ac.uk/about/cityofculture/researchresources/city_of_culture_public_bid_2018.pdf.
Gov.UK (n.d.). Search for the next UK City of Culture launched. [online] GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/search-for-the-next-uk-city-of-culture-launched.
IamAmsterdam (2021). Amsterdam Light Festival | I amsterdam. [online] www.iamsterdam.com. Available at: https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/see-and-do/whats-on/major-events-and-celebrations/amsterdam-light-festival
Seamus McKinney (2018). Derry ‘transformed’ five years on from City of Culture. [online] The Irish News. Available at: https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2018/01/02/news/derry-transformed-five-years-on-from-city-of-culture-1222901/.
Stojsavljevic, F. (n.d.). Our Story - Coventry UK City of Culture 2021. [online] coventry2021.co.uk. Available at: https://coventry2021.co.uk/about/our-story/
Team, C. of C. (n.d.). What is UK City of Culture? - Coventry UK City of Culture 2021. [online] coventry2021.co.uk. Available at: https://coventry2021.co.uk/about/what-is-uk-city-of-culture/.
Things to remember
Personal action plan created in relation to your studio project and report, responding to feedback from the formative panel / student review of your case study presentations in Week 8.
Design development captured, edited and presented in a format of your choice, as a clear narrative of your project development, to be published via your research journal (blog) and on the Ideas Wall.
Critical Report draft development, to be published via your research journal (blog), with a link to it on the Ideas Wall.
All outputs to be clearly documented on your blogs, with evidence of active engagement with the Ideas Wall.