We use the library and the art gallery but non commercial spaces are few and far between. Even public spaces like Millenium Square are often privatised, hosting events that you have to buy tickets for.
This years GIDE them is Exhibit, and you have been given the topic of 'Shrinking Cities' to help anchor and focus your design proposals.
On the 9th November 2010 Leeds City Council announced that it was going to make 3000 people redundant in order to meet the demands of the £150 million reduction in its budget from central government, which has to be implemented over the next 4 years. Is this the first real sign of the pain before the gain? If UK cities are in a crisis, and cities are a manifestation of civilisation, is civilisation in a crisis?
Only five years ago in 3004, according to Grant Woodward of the Yorkshire Evening Post 10/06/09, Leeds was dubbed the 'Knightsbridge of the North', with its Victorian Quarter shopping centre and Harvey Nichols storecomplemented by Briggate's bars and restaurants, making it a major attraction for the businessess and families relocating away from the expensive and overcrowded Home Countries in the South. Unfortunately, since the recession of 2008 the High Streets of most cities in the UK (and the Western World) are now rapidly shrinking as retailers are either reducing the number of their stores or simply going bankrupt. For example, there are now over 200 empty shops in Leeds, and in a survey carried out by Experian in July 2009 (Retail Risk Ranking) Leeds was ranked the 2nd highest out of 15 major UK city centres for empty shops.
So with the major consumer attractions from the last couple of decades gradually disappearing, some analysts predict that the High Streets will never be the same again. Whereas some optimistic City Council members, who are worried about the effects the recession is having on consumerism, have the opposite viewpoint declaring that new retailers are signing leases all the time. So who do we believe, and do we want our cities to be just spaces for consumption, or should they be more than that, and if so, what? Should every city look the same, with a homogenous proliferation of chain stores, and diminishing independent family businesses? See http://www.shrinkingcities.com/index.php
City centres have grown and evolved over the last millenium from places of shelter and community to places predominantly of greed, production and consumption where it's too expensive to live, too congested to travel freely and nto safe to be in at night-time. So what do you want your cities to provide for tomorrow's children?
Brief Assignment
Not everyone sees empty shops as a bad thing; some see them as an opportunity to introduce something new into the city and perhaps improve and change it forever. Artists, for instance, see the production of space more freely than designers; their preception is mainly without the constraints of commercialism. http://www.artinunusualspaces.co.uk/ But how do you empower people to change their lives? 50 Communities' CEO Dr Nola-Kate Seymoar says there are four stages to go through:
- Powerless - Lack of money, political influence, legal expertise, visionary knowledge etc.
- Protesting - e.g. marching in London against planned government changes ti the education system, which won't affect you but will affect your younger siblings and definitely your children. Or against the fuel/energy to heat your home, cook your food, get you to work. Or against factory farming and the quality of food that we eat, the 'cap' on wages, redundancies etc.
- Proposing - a ban on exploitation of women, equal pay for both sexes, equality for disabled people and ethnic minorities, minimum wages for youth labour market, general freedom of speech etc.
- Partnering - engendering respect for other peoples opinons, taking risks and making mutual decisions etc.
The street becomes a dwelling for the Flaneur, he is as much at home among the facades of houses as a citizen is in his four walls.
Walter Benjamin (1938) - Arcades project
Stage 1 - Flanerie to Concept - as Flaneuses and a Flaneur, you are to 'promenade and wander', spending the next couple of weeks observing and recording how the citizens of Leeds use their city, how they circulate and congregate, how areas are zoned and marked; are borders and barriers successfull, are they sufficient, what's missing? Then produce a concept for your installation ready for an 'If i were you....' brainstorming session on 26th November.
Stage 2 - Sketch Design - Using either of the plans and spaces provided you are to produce a design proposal which clearly conveys your ideas in the most exciting way as possible. See further suggestions at foot of this page.
The Empty Shops Network (http://www.artistsandmakers.com/) and 92 Empty Shops (a Leeds project) got suggestions from the public for roller discos, book swapping, language learning cerntres, public 'living rooms' where officeworkers could bring their packed lunches and eat for free, or bring their own picnic, or an allotment in a shop, slow food (as opposed to fast food) restaurants. Or you could just provide places for people to meet where coffee and newspapers are free and they don't have to spend money or pay for parking.
This is a conceptual project, where your main task will be to explore the notion of the word 'Exhibit' in its widest sense, and in doing so create an intervention, installation or insertion into either:
- PSL (Project Space Leeds) Whitehall Waterfront LS1 4EH
- 42 Briggate, Leeds
We will visit these places on Thursday, 11th November 2010 starting at PSL at 1:30pm and Briggate at 3:45pm.
Your project should highlight and celebrate an aspect of a contemporary cultural, socio-economic, political and/or environmental issue, which you fell is either lacking or will improve the the conditions of the local community, for the city's future and general wellbeing. Like the recent phenomena of Pop-Up shops, yours will be a Pop-Up temporary installtion. Consider if you want it to convey, or how generally to improve thier lives?
Preperation/Research Suggestions:
You will need to produce an Outline Working Brief for 29th November that clearly states your 'aims and objectives' - to define as precisely as you can what your project and its development will be about. You will need to decide what kinds of evidence will be needed to explain and embed your Sketch Design Concept, although this is likely at least to be a series of development sheets showing your researched influences, possible materials and applications / ideas for forms and/or spaces. You will need to produce enough work to convince the client (the staff team) that your idea is worthy of further development in order to go to tender for construction. Ultimately you are stating a persuasive 'argument' for the most innovative use of the space available, also taking into account materials, lighting, finishes etc. that you propose are from sustainable resources.
