Analysis of Elephant and Castle Intervention

I was given a task to look at strategies such as developing critical spatial practices and surveying agencies that support public art approaches in the real space of Elephant and Castle in an attempt to become familiar with the space and identify an opportunity for an intervention. In order to design a site specific photographic intervention I had to research around the subject and familiarise myself with community and specially orientated photography. I also drifted around the Heygate Estate in order to both see and feel the invisible community within Elephant and Castle. My research led me to think about the residents of the Heygate and led me to wonder what effect the upcoming regeneration was going to have on the community. A natural progression therefore was to research any form of intervention done on the effects of regeneration on a residential area.

Through my research I discovered two different forms of community involvement artistic projects that I could relate directly to the type of intervention I was hoping to achieve. It has been said that British artist Steven Willats pioneered the concept of making portraits of people and communities by presenting objects of relevance to people and recording their thoughts on each particular thing. In 1980 Willats was working on the Avondale Housing Estate to record residents’ attempts to overcome the pre-planned urban environment they were living in. The suggestion was made that instead of just recording the intervention photographically, that a more involved way to interact and record would be to directly apply objects and script to the recording medium therefore involving the atmosphere and the people of the project. This resulted in the “Pat Purdy and the glue sniffers camp” 1981. It consisted of an image of the estate on one side, an image of waste ground located close to the estate on the other, and in the middle on a smaller panel it contained an image of a fence with a hole in it, a can of evo-stick, as well as other objects that had meaning to the Avondale Housing Estate.

http://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/4,biog/

The second community based artistic project that I found was “The Docklands Community Poster Project” which was founded by Peter Dunn and Lorraine Leeson in response to the residents of East London communities because of their concern over the multi million pound regeneration of the Docklands from St. Katherine’s Dock to the Royal Docks. Residents who did not fully understand what was happening to their community, approached the artists Peter Dunn and Lorraine Leeson to ask if they would help bring awareness to the lack of involvement in the changes that were about to occur to the vast amount of people in the Dockland area. Peter and Lorraine already having some experience in this area agreed and the Docklands Poster Project was born, (1981) .During its time they created six photomural sites around the Docklands, showing a series of images called ‘The changing picture of docklands’.

http://www.bardaglea.org.uk/bridges/docklands/docklands-community.html

To put these posters in the places that would bring the most attention over a period of time they used advertising boards. To address the lack of information a series called the ‘First Sequence’ was created asking the question ‘WHAT IS GOING ON BEHIND OUR BACKS?’ and from here they took what they saw as the most important issues to the residents and tried to answer them,
they also placed a lot of attention on the subject of housing, and here they created a series called ‘The housing sequence’. With this approach the period of development in the Docklands taught developers, government, and community reps that the way forward was to involve rather than omit, taking into account people’s opinions, and people feeling they have the right to express their opinion in what happens in their community.

The 1.5 billion regeneration programme of Elephant and Castle led by Southwark council is to be over a 170 acre area and designed to bring Elephant and Castle into the 21st century.
Its building plans include:
 .Demolition of the Heygate Estate and shopping centre.
 .Rehousing of Heygate’s residents into affordable social housing
 .Building of two new parks
 .Addition of two extra schools and a city academy.
 .Removal of congested road system and diverting traffic out of the area.
 .Building of modern retail facilities.

http://www.elephantandcastle.org.uk/businessandcommunity/heygateprogramme/

In the 1960s-1970s the tower blocks were a popular solution to overcrowding in the inner city for councils. With them they could provide cheap, affordable, public sector housing to low income groups. They were easy and quick to build using reinforced concrete, replacing the old terraced houses. Also, providing more open space in the inner city with extra space planners could build small shopping precincts providing a centralised shopping area instead of small corner shops spread through the community. All this extra space also allowed planners to think about its roads and other retail areas.

The Heygate Estate has now become a giant grey building with many of its residents living in sub standard accomadation with the fear of crime bringing the Heygate a bad and uncomfortable reputation, it’s the residents of the Heygate that are going to see most of the upheavel of regeneration in the next few years and they will have the most alterations in their lives due to it. Also, the Elephant and Castle shopping centre that has the central role of local amenities will bring great changes to the lives of local residents and buisnesses due to its regeneration. Taking inspiration form the Docklands Poster Project and Steven Willats the idea came to me to use a combination of both their ideas, taking the Docklands Poster Project I began to imagine something similar for Elelphant and Castle and adding Willats’ idea of directly involving the subject of his projects I combined them both into a project inolving printing a poster of Elephant and Castle with a question on it to attract the attention of the intended subjects, and leaving writing tools to invite people to leave their opinions.
.
The intervention I chose for this project involved studying two public spaces:
1. Heygate Estate tower block.
2. Elephant and Castle shopping center.

I will start with describing what I did in the tower block and then I will analyse the result.

In the tower block I used four printed posters that had an image of the tower block from a distance, so that it would be recognised, with a question “TELL ME”? “HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ME”?. The prints were installed on four floors opposite the lifts so that they would be openly visible to the residents of the Heygate. Attached to the posters were pens allowing people to write a response to the question, they were left over night with no invigilator.We returned and removed the posters when we thought we had enough of a response or when we thought we were about to lose them.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i37/pjtubridy/IMG_1717.jpg


In analysing the responses of the participants we can break them down into two specific catagories. The first being what we would deem as off the cuff remarks, spontanious answers addressing issues of interpersonal address, for example, comments addressing issues of sexuality and interratial relationships. The second category would be what one could consider a more thoughtful response to the question, these involve people making reflective remarks about their living environment, addressing living conditions.

The following list shows an example of thoughtful opinions left by residents on the posters:
1. Rubbish outside lovely inside
2. You need more work and you look old
3. It’s cool but the estate is a bit uncomfortable
4. I would rather stay here
5. Needs security doors
6. I think we should have a garden please
7. Get the politicians to live here
8. Rodney Road council are not very good with advice, it becomes more and more a business
9. A real home is with a garden

These comments are what one could deem as not so thoughtful:
1. Old and nasty
2. I think its horrible
3. I’m sorry but I hate you
4. Waste of money horrible, rodent infested leaking when it goes can I (?)the detonator
5. Disgraceful.

Next I will describe what I did in the shopping centre and then I will analyse it.
In the shopping centre I began by attaining permission to put six posters up at the exits. Then I printed the six posters with images of the shopping centre and the questions in bold ink as to attract people’s attention.

1. Elephant and castle shopping centre what you want,

2. What’s happening to your shopping centre?

3. The new elephant and castle are you ready

4. A persons home is there castle, what would u like to see in ure new castle.

5. As part of ure community what would u like me to become.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i37/pjtubridy/IMG_4291-1.jpg

I then posted the posters at six of the main entrances leaving pens for people to respond .In total the posters were left for a week with some having to be replaced because of the vigorous response we received:
1. More amusements for kids
2. Bring back the cinema
3. Cleaner places more cleaners,
4. Lifts please
5. Layout and decoration, lamination.
6. Better car park, modern shops, free and clean toilets, cafes and libraries, better architectural design of the whole complex which has its own uniqueness, make it the best shopping centre in London.

In initialising and seeing through my intervention and analysing the responses I received on the posters it has led me to question the notion of how public this art intervention was. That is the two ‘public’ spaces that I chose indeed are conceptions of space and of being public. The Heygate Estate is viewed as a public area and the regeneration of the estate is for the public. However, reading and analysing the responses from the posters hung in the estate viewing this space as public can be problematic. If it were truly public then no-one would be excluded from it there would not be a sense of insider and outsider, yet this intervention has brought into the foreground indeed this notion. The comments made on the poster are personal and the opinions of the ‘Heygate’ community, which is indeed another branch perhaps of the Elephant and Castle community. Councillors and people who do not live on the estate are seen as ‘outsiders’ regardless of whether they live in Elephant and Castle. As Massey writes, ‘A public space is about social processes, practices and relations between people that negotiate social differences’ (pg6, 2003). Therefore public spaces are not ‘just there’ the interactions that take place within them are the underpinning of the existence of public space. This is also true of the second part of the intervention which involved the hanging of my spatial public intervention in the shopping centre. The two parts of the intervention call into question the identity of the space and the people within the space, those which I relied upon to gather information through my intervention by them writing on the posters therefore creating the public art. My initial ideas had already conceptualised identity of the community I was targeting, however, I have realised that my intervention has helped to create an identity, therefore create a public space, a public piece of art. The intervention therefore has ‘…call[ed] into being, new or different or unexpected lines of differentiation. It [was] in itself an intervention into social space’ (Massey, pg9, 2003).


















Patrick Tubridy
Bibliography

Massey, D, 2003, Personal Views: Public Art Research Project, The Open University, Commissioned by Artpoint



http://criticalspatialpractice.blogspot.com/photo.htm

http://www.the-artists.org/ArtistView.cfm?id=D8A54B7B-477D-46F7-B16D8ABC74422142

http://www.cspace.org.uk/cspace/archive/docklands/dock_arch.htm

http://collections.walkerart.org/item/object/8676

http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/abrundung/

3. dec 2006,
all posters taken down , working in analasis now,presentation on tusady with aviv and then a showing of he posters,