Call Out Now for Art Students to take part in Site Responsive Residency in the Park

Call is out now for current students to take part in this fantastic opportunity: Here is the call:

Site Responsive Land Art for the 21^st Century - A residency opportunity for students.

May 27th - June 1st 2013

Site Responsive Land Art for the 21st Century is a one week project, which forms part of the University’s involvement in a year long partnership project called ‘Park Traces’ between the University, AirSpace gallery, and Stoke-on-Trent council, to creatively document Hanley Park, and create a lasting record of the park as it is today.

The project provides an opportunity for students to take part in a site responsive research project, with real outcomes. You will work with 3 artists to generate artworks in response to this Inner City Victorian Park, the works produced will feed into the Heritage Lottery Funded research and development project, which is working towards bidding for a £4.9m HLF grant. (A bid development grant of £420,000 has already been secured.)

‘Park Traces: Site Responsive Land Art for the 21^st Century’ project is part of a larger 12 month intervention and documentation project, which aims to document a year in the life of an inner-city public park.

You will work as co-producers on the residency, and will use photography, drawing, geomapping techniques, sound and text to gather information and formulate a response. You will then use and extend your own practice and skills to build an intervention in the park, which will aim to draw attention to the park's features, and suggest solutions for the future. We will also discuss the role of artists in social contexts, and will talk about creative consultation in relation to the artworks produced. The artworks that you produce will be exhibited in an open air exhibition during FRINGE as a way to instigate conversation with park users about the future developments of the park.

This is a fantastic opportunity for you to gain invaluable experience for your CV, in exhibiting as well as working on a public realm project.

The project will be documented and shown on a project blog, and results will also be used in a publication.

You need to be able to commit to working from 10 - 5 each day on the following days in order to eligible to take up this opportunity. 

May 27th: Walks and talks in the park, first explorations and stakeholder meetings.

May 28th: Photographic  Geomapping and GPS Data building, and basic consultation techniques.

May 29th: Drawing response.

May 30th: Proposal for intervention

May 31st: Finalising responses and fabrication ahead of Exhibition

June 1st: Public Exhibition 

£25 per student will be made available to spend in the art shop on materials for your response.

To apply for a place on the Residency please email: a 250 word statement detailing why you are right for this opportunity, and how you would approach it to a.m.francis@staffs.ac.uk by Monday, May 6th 2013.

Spring Walk One

It was the practical beginning of the Park Traces project, as I did my first walk today. To really get to grips with the context and methods to be used I am kicking off with a series of Spring Walks, the first of these are solitary, but later I intend to invite other people to walk with me. These walks will be photo walks, text walks, sound walks and other walks.
I have never done a dedicated sound walk before, although I have recorded audio on a walk before, I have never set out for the walk to be a sound walk, so thought it would be a good way to start, as I think it would be true to say that often the other senses take over.
It was very interesting to walk the park this way. My hearing became ultra sensitised, as I walked, thinking about what I was hearing and how it might come out on the audio. I found myself wanting to walk slightly differently to the usual route I might take through the park, considering the sounds I might come across, and on occasion, rerouting in order to include a sound. The route taken looks like an upside down bird of prey in the end, well at least the head and shoulders of one. Sounds I heard on the walk include:

Spring should be here, and I did see signs that it is on the way. The sun was out, though not warm, but there were still patches of snow in places. Considering it is still school holidays the park was relatively empty.