Tyneside to Aberdeenshire

by Ruth Barker, 4 Oct 2010

Hello,

A busy couple of days as on Friday I was in Tyneside on a site visit for a new work I’m in the middle of; and then on Saturday it was up to Aberdeenshire for the Red Herring Weekend at Deveron Arts in Huntly, coinciding with the Expanded Fields symposium at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Lumsden.

My meeting in Newcastle was very exciting as I was able to visit the reconstructed Roman Bath House at Segedunum Museum in Wallsend. There’s something about the name ‘Wall’s End’ that I find strangely poignant – a place defined just by being on the end of something. And Wallsend feels like that somehow. It’s a funny place. The museum is great though and the bathhouse is superb. I’m really enjoying putting the new work together (though, as ever, it’s a bit of a stretch to meet the deadline!) and of course I’ll put a link here when I sort out a date.

My trip north was likewise rewarding. After a bit of a delay on the trains¹, I arrived in Huntly in time to get a glimpse of Stéfanie Bourne’s Red Herring Installation, before heading off of the Town Collection Walk, lead by Claudia Zeiske. Claudia gave a really fascinating tour of Huntly and opened my eyes to the Town Collection itself – as Claudia says, I don’t really think there’s anything else like it, though if anyone knows of a similar model please let us know.

Claudia explained that each artist who develops a project through Deveron Arts is asked to donate a piece of work (of whatever scale, or worth, or kind) to the town. As a result, the spaces of Huntly, both interior and exterior, including retail, domestic and industrial locations, are becoming homes to a wide range of gifted artworks. This is such an interesting process in so many ways, that I’m thinking of writing a more substantial piece about it. The ways it starts to permeate the town, the way it remaps, the idea of legacy, the ways in which it traces relationships… There’s just so much that I don’t have the space to go into here.

I think Deveron Arts are doing something very important in unpicking the various relationships between artists and places. When we think about the significance of how public art practice is developing – as we try in our various ways to chart histories and trajectories of practice – I think that the projects that Claudia is instigating up in Huntly can be seen as being some of the most influential. Check out Room to Roam if you don’t believe me.

Below are some (crappy) photographs I took during the walk.

We start at the Brander Building, where Claudia Zeiske gives us an introduction.

Kenny Hunter, Where In, Where At, Brinder Building, The Square, Huntly.

Our fearless leader!

Lean Coetzer, Bus Stop Dance, The Square, Huntly.

The words to town anthem Room to Roam, part of the rebranding project by Jacques Coetzer, The Gordon Arms, Huntly.

Claudia discusses the Room to Roam project

Jean Cameron enjoying the tour!

At Orbs Bookshop, discussing Eva Mertz’ Missing Picture, and the Empty Shop/Modern Monument.

The Empty Shop poster, glimpsed behing the counter at Orbs Bookshop.

Claudia remembering Paul Carter, and introducing us to his Miracle Over Huntly Castle, at Huntly Hotel.

After this, I went across to nearby Lumsden to check out SSW’s newly refurbished building, where I was particularly impressed by the super-efficient boiler and the underfloor heating! This is something all arts organisations should bear in mind: artists need to be warm and dry!

The Expanded Fields symposium featured two speakers: the brilliant Jeanne van Heeswijk, whom I’d heard speak before at an event at Grizedale Arts (which I wrote about here – she’s also speaking at Mapping the Future on Wednesday) and Nikolaj Oleynikov of collective Chto Delat?, whose work I didn’t know previously. I had to leave before the end, so I missed the whisky tasting and the dinner with Jackie Donachie (which I’m sure was exceedingly tasty), but I hope that the conversations continued into the evening. There were some really important points raised, which may carry over into our Mapping the Future symposia. Particularly interesting were the questions about artists’ responsibility, and about the possibility for agonism; and also art’s relationship to theory on one hand, and activism on the other. ‘Ah’ I hear you say, ‘that old chestnut.’
If I had a regret it was that (at least, while I was there) discussion never came back to Kraus’s original text Sculpture In the Expanded Field, which was mentioned in the introduction but never successfully resurfaced as a root or ground for the conversation, which might have been helpful. The chair, Mick Wilson, was great though – and a new name to me (which is always a pleasure). I googled him when I got home and discovered that:

“Dr. Mick Wilson is an artist, writer and educator. He is Head of Fine Art at DIT, currently on secondment as Dean of GradCAM until August 31st 2010. He is a graduate of the NCAD and Trinity College Dublin.”

This bio comes from the graduate school of creative arts and media. Apologies if any details are incorrect.

Right, I’m off to get some work done. I hope to see you in Dundee on Wednesday for Day 1 of Mapping the Future? If not, perhaps I’ll run into some of you on Saturday at AHM’s event State of Play: Art and Culture in Scotland Today. I’ll be there, delivering a manifesto. Apparently. Gulp!

More later,
R.

¹ Mine broke down and I was stranded in Inverurie till a replacement bus could be found. Hello! To the very nice father and daughter from Venezuela who were trying to reach Findhorn. I hope you made it in the end.