Twinning Project; A Calendar for Callendar Park

by Janie Nicoll, 17 Sep 2008

Now that the website is up and running (www.vvgroup-falkirk.org) Alex and I are getting organized with our next project which is to twin up artists with residents from the High Rises, with the intention of getting artists to make or lend artworks that the residents can have in their homes. These will then be documented and the resulting images will form a calendar that will then be distributed to every flat in the High Flats. This continues the idea of taking Contemporary Art direct into the homes of the residents, taking the art to them rather than them to the art. The calendar will be a functional object that creates a legacy for the residency, over the next year, while acting as an introduction to the work of the artists we have selected.

We are hoping each artist will have a resonance with the member of the group that they are twinned with. Although this could well be “easier said than done”, as we realized during one of the sessions with the group when we first floated the idea. The “Pile of bricks”, “Tracey Emin’s Bed” scenario raised its ugly head as well as the accompanying inevitable question “But why is that art?” … Needless to say an interesting discussion ensued.

This type of situation does remind you that Contemporary Art can often be the elephant in the room, during this kind of engagement. There can emerge a real hostility, no doubt fuelled by the media and a lack of understanding, that creates feelings of inadequacy, which can seem fairly understandable (I’m sure I feel it too sometimes… and I’ve had quite a few years of Art School training !). Having just spent two days attending the ‘engage’ Scotland Conference, where the main topic was on “new approaches to interpreting art”, this all seems rather relevant. Sometimes you realize that you are pretty much “back at the coalface” but I suppose that’s all part of the challenge, and part of why we are here. We are organizing a trip for the group to visit Edinburgh and we will be taking in the Tracey Emin exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art, I’m sure it will provoke further interesting discussion!!