Contemporary Installation Art as a Socioeconomic driver of communityArts-led regeneration in the declining Coastal town of Margate

School of Architecture:Research Thesis

Interior Architecture & Design (CIAD 6014)Jocelyn Leechprey Asea

Student No. 1103217

1 Introduction 2 Literature Review 3 Margate History 3.1.1 Socioeconomic history3.2 Methodology3.3 The Potency of Arts-led regeneration in Margate3.4 Contemporary Installation art In regeneration4 Comparative Coastal Town Case Studies

4.1.1 Folkestone Triennial 4.1.2 Whitstable Biennial 4.1.3 Blackpool: Installation Art4.1.4 Liverpool: Community & Council Collaboration4.1.5 New York; The Art of Participation4.1.6 Brighton: Culture-led regeneration 5 Conclusion6 Bibliography

Contents Page

Contemporary Installation Art as a socioeconomic driver of community arts-led regeneration in the declining coastal town of Margate.

Introduction

As a student studying Interior Architecture & design, selective projects have been based on Margate’s seafront. These experiences within the community have provided me with a wide-angle view and insight into some of Margate’s on-going social and economical struggles.This thesis aims to emphasise the positive influence installation art could have on Margate. For the purpose of this research thesis ‘contemporary installation art’ refers to a form or structure that alludes to occupy a room or gallery space. To have an immediate impression on the viewer, hinder their perception of space, for which the style is a visual manifestation of the present day. Successful installation art is often site-specific. Devised to be experienced, walked through or around spatial beings. ‘Art-led regeneration’ is the positive exploitation of existing artist and design communities. Encouraging industry specialists to share their enthusiasm and inspiration for visual and conceptual creativity in aid of pre-empting further socioeconomic pauperism. This research thesis offers an in-sight into Margate’s gradual social and economic decline. Once a thriving seaside costal town, now in drastic need of a successful and sustainable regeneration strategy. For this, the author sets out to analysis, evaluate, recommend and elucidate the benefits and effectiveness of contemporary installation art on local communities as a sustainable and innovative form of art-led regeneration. Exploring Blackpool as a key comparative coastal town to Margate, analysing and equating their socioeconomic struggles and how art-led regeneration has influenced and transformed their local communities, businesses and the public sector.

The author also interrogates the coastal town of Brighton, where socioeconomic decline has been strategically eluded and how their approach can be implemented in Margate. Briefly touching upon London’s art-led gentrification in Shoreditch, analysing audience participation and the positive impact the fast growing artist community is having on the local community, architecture and surrounding businesses. Using visual, interactive and public art theory and art movements and as a medium for which I defend my findings and ideologies. I explain the potency of art-led regeneration, audience participation and why installation art is a highly appropriate choice of regeneration for Margate in comparison to other regeneration strategies. Essentially, my objective is to propose a form of Contemporary installation art specific to Margate using physically sourced data from within Margate for which greatly informs my proposal, in alliance with Thanet council and funding organisations policies. Through inhabiting unpopulated, dismal spaces in Margate, the author’s proposed installation art aims to engage and encourage audiences: tourists, locals, governing bodies and inspire small businesses to revitalise their stores through cost-efficient contemporary visual alterations. And so potentially in the long-term substantially improve Margate’s current socioeconomic status in a bid to reinstate Margate as the successful tourist seaside destination it once was.

Literature Review

For my proposal, supporting the of use of contemporary installation art as a socioeconomic driver of wealth in the declining coastal town of Margate, it was important to understand the art movement installation art evolved from and its manifesting into a physical site-specific intervention residing in the public sphere. For this, I began exploring, the post-modernism art movement which led to the notion of conceptual art in the 19th century. For which sees art as a device that makes art, a physical being that is viewed in a public space. In my thesis, I begin to investigate conceptual art exports, for that is installation art, analysing the early studies of installation art by the French artist Marcel Duchamp, who created a series of experimental 3-dimensation forms untitled the ready mades, displayed within a gallery space. To understand how arts based project can impact on a town’s regeneration strategy, the author explores: Sarah Bennett, John Butler (2002) Advances in Art & Urban Futures Volume 1: Locality, Regeneration & Divers[c]ities. In this study of art in the urban context as a regeneration strategy I begin to understand the requirements of contemporary installations in the social inclusion of communities and the role of governing bodying and funding organisations in determining the success of community art projects. Another publishing I investigated was; Andy Hewitt and Mel Jordan (ed.) (2008) Futurology: Issues, context and conditions for contemporary art practice today. The book discusses the need for participation, collaboration, contemporary art and culture-led regeneration in the public realm today. Resolving social, political and economic conflicts in power, through the creation of artist directed projects, to engage communities to tackle issues together through interactive learning and encourage personal development

Margate Beach: 17th Century Bathing Machine

Case Study; Margate History

Situated in England, Eastern Kent within the district of Thanet, Margate lies along the North Foreland coastline; Britain’s first Seaside town. Its proud heritage attributed to its maritime rituals; famed for its alliance of Cinque Ports in 1229 and was once perceived an impoverished Georgian fishing Village. Onwards a decade of fishing refinery and extraction, fishing subsists a key specialism of Margate most of which it exports. 1730s saw the instigation of the popular sea bathing in Margate; ribbons of sand lined the sea; the arrival of timber bathing machines of which were situated along the sea-line, alleged to improve the user’s well being. This ideology was further reinforced and recognized in Dr. Richard Russell’s 1752 manuscript; The Dissertation on the use of Seawater in the Diseases of the Glands. Advocating the transitory benefits of sea immersion and consumption and avowed to lessen and alleviate tuberculosis symptoms in patients. Perceived an upper class ritual; the break-through dissertation saw the erection of the Royal Sea Bathing Hospital in 1791. Established to rehabilitate ailing patients with symptoms; the treatment Centre faced a high influx of patients migrating from London to be treated.

In 1767 Margate began rapidly growing in tourism and initiated a wealth-driven surge of architectural infrastructure. Its intention, to support and accommodate the growing tourist population by feeding into their interests through culture-rich amenities. Cecil square, Hawley square, the Royal Hotel and vast assembly Rooms, filled the resort with an opulent artistic and architectural language. The anticipated positive response from visitors and locals saw the re-evaluating of Margate’s access points and potential expansions in transport. 1806-1863 steamboats at its peak, the railway access linked London, Chatham and Dover under 3hrs to Margate, thus making transport more affordable to the middle and working class and above all a highly accessible seaside town region and citywide. The vacating of London visitors to Margate was also helped by the contour of the River Thames, which lines the north Foreland coastline. This therefore permitted access to steamboats, sailing vessels and fishing boats.

‘Lord’ George Sanger’s 1870s circus and pleasure gardens now Dreamland, exploited the seaside town’s high visitor numbers, by employing commercial amusement rides and machines; establishing the park as a key tourist attraction of Margate. Inundated with high tourist numbers, Margate continued to flourish and invest in residential infrastructure and cultural commercial edifices in a bid to sustain the town’s wealth and subsequent growth as a coastal town. As with most of Margate’s expansion schemes, vivacious breaks of storms saw the popular tourist attraction plummet into decline and become a derelict past time. A £6 million coastal scheme to shield the town from flooding proved defenseless against the rafts of storms that swept the coastal town repetitively, for which saw the decline of seafront thriving attractions and businesses, seeing Margate into an imminent financial decline. Charles et al’s research thesis on Art of regeneration suggests the ability to which a town can ‘pre-figure its future, therefore means everything about a town is then a potential resource for regeneration.’ What this means to Margate, is if its rich cultural heritage and tourism is harnessed it will prove a powerful tool for achieving widespread regeneration throughout Thanet District.

Lord George Sanger’s 1870s circus and pleasure gardens

Socioeconomic Decline

Inter and post-war Britain in 1948; the cheap overseas package holiday boom, UK residents began vacating overseas in the summer season, attracted by the arid summer weather, travelling primarily to: Spain, Italy and Switzerland via Thomas Cook & Son now known as Thomas Cook. By 1960, the impact of the overseas holiday package was evident throughout the Thanet district as. 1970s Margate, visitor numbers diminish to 2 million and Uk residents vacating overseas increase from 12 to 20 million. The overseas transit resulted in the foreclosure of Kent coalfields. High unemployment swept through Margate, resulting in the itemization of the primary sector effecting agriculture, fishing and shipping industries. The transitioning of once prevalent hotels and B&B’s in 1980 into unhabituated derelict frameworks and the scarcity of diverse economic strategies was a critical failure in Margate’s inability to regenerate the coastal town’s most deprived areas. Funding provisions and policies at the time generally focused on large cities and small self-sufficient coastal districts. The 1993 European regional assistance award in conjunction with the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) offered Thanet district economic stability needed to develop the public sector and infrastructure. The regional assistance programme demanded a more tactical approach to regeneration in Margate and diverse tourism driven strategies. Embarking on the diverse EU-funded strategies in 2000, the coastal town endured substantial matched-funding issues, resulting in low regeneration development. The programme however, succeed at creating employment opportunities, some of which commemorating the area’s rich art and culture based heritage, culminating in 2008.

Northdown Road, CliftonvilleMargate High Street, Town Centre

Intuitional aid via the EU/SRB programme injected the declining coastal town with higher education opportunities. The establishing of the Broadstairs Canterbury Christ Church university campus was designed with the intention to instill career goals and aspirations within the Margate community and drive employment rates. Irregardless of the funding stratagems in place, Margate continued to descent further into socioeconomic decline. In 2000, A high-density in-migration of vulnerable people, benefit claimants and ex-convicts were relocated from London boroughs and Kent council districts to the coastal town. The exploiting of low cost accommodation and conversion into housing of multiple occupancy (HMO), attracted private landlords; benefitting from the increasing availability of neglected properties. This assembly of low quality HMO’s gradually invited anti-social behaviour to Margate’s seafront and neighbouring areas; drug and alcohol abuse littered the streets and over time crime rates increased. With Broadstairs Canterbury Christ Church University campus the coastal town’s only adult learning hub, teenage pregnancy heightened. As the education sector deteriorated, secondary schools in urgent need of financial backing, failing Ofsted reports and constantly overcrowded; this resulted in a low skills set, driving local minorities into a deep depression.The rapid growth of online shopping impacted negatively in aging towns, particularly small coastal towns lose out to retailers and consumers. High volumes of independent businesses and firms struggled to survive and as a result went into administration.

Over several decades the coastal has experienced storms and floods, exposing sections of the town. Margate’s Victorian sea defences had reached the end of their design life. Constructed of ten-ton high concrete blocks, the original sea wall pre-dating 1897 was designed as a maximum flood defence. However, the sea wall design did not consider the strength of the sea’s lateral forces working against the one-layered wall for which only climaxed foreshore level. Perhaps, a secondary structure working with the primary wall may have counteracted the disastrous effects of 1897 storm disaster. The lacking flood defence knowledge led to the destruction of seafront amenities, attractions and residential housing. The 1978 storm disaster destroyed much of the Margate’s tourism devices: the Jetty, Westbrook Pavilion, Marine Sun Deck, and the Lido of which were never replaced or restored. In 2007 the Environment Agency awarded Margate £3.9m all of which was 100% national funding in 2010, to design and construct a long-term coastal sea defence scheme to will lessen wave overflowing to below the design’s critical threshold.

The council needed to improve as an organisation’, placing emphasis on rudimentary ‘front-line customer services’ that being public waste and street cleaning (Coastal Communities Alliance: 2015). The author argues that it is crucial for locals to take pride in Margate’s street and become enthusiastic about its rich heritage and to take an active role in the town’s regeneration. As stated by the Coastal Communities Alliance, community and institutional partnership is key to improving Margate’s social and economic status and public services through changing people’s attitudes towards the town. The author understands tourism as an outcome of economic stability and therefore argues against it being used alone to resolve itself. If two apposing practices coincide, for that the economic decline of a coastal town for which relies on customary, heavy manufacturing industries; Kent’s coalfields and the growth of tourism, a combination of ‘tourism-related regeneration strategies’ can be used ‘to reverse the decline of de-industrialising cities’ and towns (Caffyn and Lutz, 1999).

The rapid growth of online shopping in 2000 saw aging towns, for that small coastal town lose out to retailers and consumers. Independent businesses and firms within Margate struggled to survive gradually going into administration. According to Landry et al: 1996, ‘towns must offer something different and inspiring, if a more collective public life is to re-emerge again,’ for which Landry suggests ‘arts-led developments have often encouraged’. The author reflects on Loretta Lees and John McKiernan’s research thesis of For Art and the Public Sphere on ‘Art-led regeneration in Margate: learning from Moonbow Jakes Café and Lido Nightclub intervention’ for which analyses Turner Contemporary’s role in Margate’s regeneration through exploring the coastal town’s socio-economic context. Using cumulated data from Moonbow Jakes Café and Lido Nightclub intervention to criticize and question the gallery’s role in Margate’s regeneration, for which its opening coincided with Turner contemporary in the summer of 2011. The thesis suggests that Turner bases its success on number of locals from deprived regions in Margate that ‘it has attracted through its doors to see its art’. For which they go on to argue that the majority people who enter the gallery are mostly day visitors and individuals with ‘financial interest in promoting Margate’ (Lees. L & McKiernan. J: 2013). Highlighting the counter-productive role of private landlords within Margate, whereby they have ‘little or no incentive to keep up even basic maintenance’, ‘unfit for habitation’. They argue the ‘Turner effect’ has blind-sighted the council into focusing more on direct economic strategies and the gallery’s publicity to increase Margate’s tourist population and attract private investors and stakeholders.

The author supports Lees. L & McKiernan in that focus should be primarily directed at developing the town’s most deprived areas; there was ‘more publicity about gallery events and exhibitions scattered around London’ in comparison to Cliftonville, statistically Margate’s most deprived area.Concerned with Margate’s decline, resident John Crofts fronted the concept of celebrating former resident J.W.M Turner’s 17th and 18th century depiction of Margate’s transcendent seascape and landscape through painting in 1994. Attracting the support of Kent county council and Arts council England, the two councils acknowledged Margate’s existing historic heritage and past cultural drivers of tourism, for which they established plans to construct an arts facility that will aid Margate’s regeneration. Pre-Turner Contemporary in 2001; the installing of small-scale art exhibition spaces and temporarily taking over of spaces, The Droit house and varied locations throughout Margate. Working with local, national and international contemporary artists: Tracey Emin, Bethan Huws and Mike Nelson. Early exhibitions included; ‘Mike Nelson’s spanning Fort Road and Mansion Street: Between a formula and a code; an installation within an empty industrial building. Early turner was fabricated as a medium for which locals could interact with artworks, become engaged and inspired, through which the publicity will help generate education and employment opportunities. The organisation also ran an exhibition programme spanning from 2005-2010 within the former Marks & Spencers on Margate’s high street.’ (Lees. L & McKiernan. J: 2013

The success of Turner’s small-scale installations allowed for a two-year collaboration with Modern Art Oxford in 2005, cross-promoting nationally to Europe the work of artists from within Margate. The installation works were fabricated as a part of Turner’s learning and public programmes with the intention of engaging unwilling or distant audiences. The exhibitions invited independent visitors, warranting local residents feel at ease to participate and engage with the artworks. The early arts-led regeneration strategy in Margate resulted in the Government’s Transformation Fund in 2009. The funding helped set-up Time of our Lives project, targeted at audiences aged between 13-25 to interact with residents over 60 and explore what it means to be an adolescent living in Margate. I believe this was a useful exercise, allowing the younger and older generations to bond and appreciate each other’s crucial role in the town. ‘The council needed to improve as an organisation’, placing emphasis on rudimentary ‘front-line customer services’ that being public waste and street cleaning (Coastal Communities Alliance: 2015). The author believes that it is crucial locals take pride in the streets they walk upon so as to unite communities in order to improving public services, tackling Margate’s deprivation together. The organisation also achieved funding in 2010 from Thanet Works for a 15-week course, which aimed to provide 30 local unemployed people with core skills for a working environment.

Conceived in 2011 and designed by Architect David Chipperfield Turner Contemporary Celebrated Margate’s seaside heritage, embracing Turner’s visual perception and appreciation of the coastal town. Aiming to widen the impact of its programmes on visitors, schools, local and regional communities through art based learning through engaging the public, in a bid to help increase employment rates and job opportunities within the coastal town. The gallery’s community involvement saw 20,000 members of the public participate in learning/training programs and their partnership with schools and adult learning outlets strengthen. With a £13.8 million impact on Kent’s economy in its first 12 months of operation and generating a further £21m for local economy the Turner contemporary gallery succeed in 35 new businesses residing in Old Town and Lower high street in Margate. This in-turn secured £6.2 million towards Dreamland’s renovation, historic cultural driver of tourism. Dreamland’s agenda is to provide a variety of interactive learning workshops and activities and the restoration of the amusement park’s key attractions and rides. Hemmingway Design & Dreamland Trust council fund invested £10 million into the renovating of Dreamland, for which aimed to create jobs, entertainment and Learning Centre to support Margate’s tourism and economic growth. The success of Turner also attracted interest from retail interior guru Mary Portas to revitalise the seafront by setting up pop shops and occupying empty shops, selling: arts & crafts, handmade novelty gifts and traditional furniture.

Dreamland

. It is through ‘their emptiness, such places offer possibilities for imaging new kinds of occupation of space.’ It is therefore the responsibility of the artist and design to create a ‘close relationship with the site’, by manifesting histories and ‘suggesting alternative ways of using space’ through visual experimentation (Sarah Bennett, John Butler, 2002, p.24). In support of occupying empty space for the purpose of tackling issues within the community, the author explores how multi-disciplinary notions can be combined to create an informative and highly engaging art installation. Using New York City as their inspirational backdrop witnessed the coming together of a: performer and musician Laurie Anderson, a choreographer Trisha Brown and artist Gordon Matta-Clarkwere. The team of artists created an exhibition using visual art and performance to discuss and depict contemporary social issues. Setting about in the 1970s, the collaborative artists used the New York’s collapse of the secondary sector, potential bankruptcy, widespread unemployment and the anti-social behaviours it invited as medium for which they engaged the public. Taking over derelict buildings the team of arts used everyday situations through a variety of mixed media to connect with its audiences. The exhibition focused on the relationship between contemporary art practice and community concerns through performance and the engaging depiction of the urban fabric.

Methodology

Margate as an accessible coastal town for which is in good proximity to the author’s accommodation with readily available data and documentation through digital media and local libraries. Having collaborated with the resort studios, Dreamland and sea-front businesses, I developed a wholesome understanding of Margate’s historical value and its gradual decline, for which I can begin to construct a proposal that aims to lessen social divisions in communities, using installation art is a mediator of social conversation and personal development through the participation. Using case studies and journals that explore multidisciplinary approaches to installation art; in order to be able to establish the most suitable approach that addresses Margate’s issues appropriately.

The Potency of Arts-led regeneration in Margate?

Matarasso’s 1997 study Use or Ornament; the social impact of participation in the arts, evaluates the benefits of community participation and engagement in art projects and how this can sustainably aid a town’s regeneration through varied social research techniques across a vast age demographic. Arts-led regeneration is significant to Margate as it pays homage to its rich historic heritage, J.W.M Turner’s depiction of Margate, its characteristic Georgian architecture and the Arlington House’s framed façade, exploiting Margate’s seafront and landscape views through frame perspectives. The study identified arts based projects ‘strengthened people’s commitment to places and their engagement in tackling problems, especially in the context of urban regeneration. He suggests participation in art projects has the ability to ‘encourage and provide mechanisms for creative approaches to development and problem solving, and offer opportunities for communities and institutions to take risks in a positive way.’ (Matarasso: 1997) Why is art important to Margate? The author believes the art is important to Margate as it has the ability to will help restore self confidence within locals and allow them to self-express to have a ‘transformative effect’, for which will encourage audiences to ask questions about their own personal development and ‘take up training or education opportunities.’ (Matarasso: 1997) Art has the potential in becoming a ‘useful provision of moments, places and tools for self-reflection, critical thinking and radical practice’, for which ‘provides the gifts of time and space.’ (Sarah Bennett, John Butler, 2002, p.26).

It is through ‘their emptiness, such places offer possibilities for imaging new kinds of occupation of space.’ It is therefore the responsibility of the artist and design to create a ‘close relationship with the site’, by manifesting histories and ‘suggesting alternative ways of using space’ through visual experimentation (Sarah Bennett, John Butler, 2002, p.24). In support of occupying empty space for the purpose of tackling issues within the community, the author explores how multi-disciplinary notions can be combined to create an informative and highly engaging art installation. Using New York City as their inspirational backdrop witnessed the coming together of a: performer and musician Laurie Anderson, a choreographer Trisha Brown and artist Gordon Matta-Clarkwere. The team of artists created an exhibition using visual art and performance to discuss and depict contemporary social issues. Setting about in the 1970s, the collaborative artists used the New York’s collapse of the secondary sector, potential bankruptcy, widespread unemployment and the anti-social behaviours it invited as medium for which they engaged the public. Taking over derelict buildings the team of arts used everyday situations through a variety of mixed media to connect with its audiences. The exhibition focused on the relationship between contemporary art practice and community concerns through performance and the engaging depiction of the urban fabric.

This realised personal development of the participant through art-based learning has the potential to have a chain reaction that could aid regeneration across Thanet district; increase employment levels, reduce crime and anti-social behaviour, encourage town pride and social inclusion through uniting the community in mutual space for which they can tackle Margate’s socioeconomic issues together. Margate’s partnership with universities has allowed for the collaboration of Canterbury campus UCA (the University for the Creative Arts) Fine art and Interior Architecture & Design degree students, showcase their work in Turner Contemporary and have projects based in Margate. The author reflects on how the involvement of Interior Architecture & design students in Margate’s tourism stratagems and interior interventions can be exploited to aid Margate’s regeneration. In 2013, revolutionary arts and Dreamland with Hemmingway Design collaborated with UCA Interior Architecture & design students to involve them in the process of Margate’s regeneration. Revolutionary arts worked with UCA students to create a reading room that incorporated the context of Margate in within the design of the students individual reading spaces. Coinciding with Dreamland’s renovation and re-opening in April 2014, the second project saw students propose a short-term contemporary installation in form of a performance space on the ground floor for which audiences could experience and view various acts using the façade as a medium for which engages and attracts audiences. The author reflects on the success and impact of Turner’s small-scale installation art on local communities and their ability to engage with non-artist audiences by getting locals to communicate with one another the socio-economical issues through the participation and engagement arts. Proposing how this can be implemented on a larger scale to attract tourists to Margate and revive the town’s seafront. Repopulating retail shops using installation art as a device to inspire audiences into thinking about future and career goals.

University For The Creative Arts

Contemporary Installation art in regeneration

For the purpose of this research thesis contemporary installation art has taken to mean a current physical artistic form or structural intervention that resides in the public sphere for which its sole purpose is to attract and engage audiences. Defining what contemporary installation art is in regards to interior design and what it means to Margate, as a driver of regeneration was a crucial element of my research thesis for which allowed me to become more explicit about my intentions and what I propose for Margate. Folkestone Triennial as an example of a town that has gained regional and international success in the form of a public installation art exhibition event, that takes place every 3 years. Located on the south-east coast of England, Folkestone seaside embraces the artist community through their collaborative work with the annual event, by temporarily taking over public spaces, creating contemporary, unconventional art-installations that are reflective of the town’s issues and wider relatable issues in the world.

Folkestone Triennial

Commissioning several widely recognised artists, to respond to the coastal town: Cornelia Parker, Tracey Emin, Jeremy Deller, Martin Creed and Richard Wilson. Folkestone Triennial is one of the five key projects of theCreative Foundation. Established in 2002, the foundation is an independent visionary arts charity that is devoted to regenerating the coastal town through creative interventions, around the town’s scenic harbour. The coastal town also has a Creative Quarter for which the town’s artist community inhabits and has successfully helped generate 300 jobs in the area and 90 buildings have also been restored. The beauty of the Triennial is that it allows visitors to travel around Folkestone, experiencing art in real public space, changing visitor’s perception of viewing and learning from contemporary. These art installations acts primarily as a public showcase of contemporary site-specific works, encouraging ‘innovative art making in new places’ (Sarah Bennett, John Butler, 2002, p.89) Undélaissé - To Reminisce the Future by Sharing Bread and Stories, created by triennial artist Amina Menia, discussed urban myths regarding an undeveloped gap in the urban fabric of Tontine Street, within Folkestone. An audio installation was temporarily set up in the former Brewery Tap Beer Garden, illustrating acoustically, the death of 60 people by a single bomb and recording the stories of migrating foreigners as they arrive to Folkestone. The bench behind the site is suggested to act as a time capsule depicting the moment the bomb dropped. The historical character and aesthetical presence of the site becomes the soundtrack of the audio installation for which the artist begins to suggest the future potential of the site by connecting the dialogue of the two, for a greater learning experience and unique form of visitor engagement. Recording the stories of migrating foreigners as they arrive to Folkestone.

Whitstable Biennale

A regional border of Margate, Whitstable hosts a Biennale festival, every 2 years for which celebrates; new visual art, performance, film and sound on Whitstable’s seafront. Fabricated by the town’s artistic community as a regeneration strategy in 2002, the event showcases contemporary artists, engaging visitors in a culture-rich programme. The 2014 festival saw almost 50,000 visitors participate in the visual arts programme, an extension of the event, for which an additional 20,000 visitors were attracted to the unconventional festival fringe. With works being toured region wide and internationally, the arts community are very proactive in the encouraging participation of the public in social conditions through institutional collaboration. Based in the Biennale Headquarters Kieren Reed, designed and built a short-term installation in the public domain with third year students at UCA Canterbury and the Collaborative Research group. The intention of the installation was to explore spatial functionality, notions of partnership and the opportunities of de-authoring an art form in a learning and engaging environment. The intervention was designed as a mutual social space for the festival attendants and information centre, dealing with the condition of social participation by encouraging peer conversation through the ‘pluralities of contemporary visual art practice’.

Collaborative research, Whitstable Biennale 2014

1.2 Comparative Coastal towns; Blackpool

Blackpool is an example of a historic seaside coastal town similar to Margate in their regeneration strategies and problems with town deprivation. The author discusses and analyses how the coastal town used art-based projects as a driver of tourism to re-stabilize their economy and improve their social status. 18th century England; originally a small fishing village by the sea, the coastal town became a popular summer vacation for upper class citizens, attracted by its bathing machines and seawater facilities. Advances in transport in the 19th century made travelling affordable to middle and working class residents. The popularity of the coastal town encouraged developments in public services, prompting growth in the art and culture sector, with the intention of attracting tourists as a means of fueling the town’s economy. Exploring the potential impact of arts-led regeneration as a sustainable method of maintaining visitor numbers and developments in architectural infrastructure, the council established the illuminations light show in 1879. Screening in Blackpool’s theatres and Art Gallery, the town gradually became highly acclaimed for its engagement and appreciation of the arts. The establishing of Blackpool Technical College in 1938, allowed for the in-migration of people, for which was a contributing factor in the town’s socioeconomic growth and increasing visitor population.

The cheap overseas air package holidays in 1960 marked Blackpool’s decline as a seaside resort, as with Margate. The attractive weather the package holidays offered and its affordability meant more people wanted to vacate abroad. The decline of hotels and B&B’s, forced the closure of many local business’s that relied on the town’s tourism.1990s saw the conversation of derelict hotels and B&Bs into low quality, housing of multiple occupancy (HMO’s) for which Blackpool council and other UK councils occupied the basic accommodation with vulnerable people and benefit claimants. High in crime, anti-social behavior, teenage pregnancy, alcohol and drug abuse and unemployment, Blackpool council explored a variety of regeneration strategies to re-activate the economy and tourism. The council responded by creating a competition in 1999, with the brief being to propose and design a permanent contemporary art form that resides on along Blackpool’s seafront for which incorporates the town’s diverse character and commemorates the town’s artistic history. Attracting 11 million annual visitors to the coastal town the positive impact of the Promenade show led to the council commissioning artist Gordon Young £2.6m to create an art form for the coastal town’s central headland as apart of the town’s sea defense regeneration scheme.

From LeftDesire by Chris Knight, 2001. Blackpool Promenade. Photo: Joel Chester Fildes. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? by Michael Trainor, 2002. Blackpool Promenade. Photo: Jonathan Lynch for Blackpool Borough Council Glam Rocks by Peter Freeman, 2001. Blackpool PromenadePhoto:Joel Chester Fildes Water Wings by Bruce Williamsr, 2001. Blackpool Promenade, Photo: Joel Chester FildesHigh Tide Organ by Liam Curtin and John Gooding, 2003. Blackpool Promenade. Photo: Jonathan Lynch for Blackpool Borough CouncilFrankenstein Project by Tony Stallard, 2001. Blackpool PromenadePhoto: Jonathan Lynch for Blackpool Borough Council

Comedy Carpet

For this, Young responded by re-landscaping against the beach’s shoreline an illustrative carpet. Untitled Comedy Carpet, the permanent art installation was inspired by the architectural character of Blackpool tower and decades of comedic performances in the coastal town. Located at the entrance of Blackpool Tower, the permanent art form connects the north and south sides of the promenade to the beach and was designed with the intention of hosting future events and performances. Young understands comedy as ‘a big part of who we are. It has its own social history and a very important place in that history is Blackpool’. Forging a regional partnership, the council partnered with York council in 2011 for which the towns agreed to share Blackpool’s highly acclaimed Illumination festival and their technical equipment, reducing the costs of staging events and increasing tourism through cross-promotion.

Analyzing Blackpool’s use of permanent installation art in a bid to aid the coastal town’s regeneration and its impact on the town’s social and economic status. The author suggests that the creation of the light show, great promenade show and comedy carpet were very effective in increasing tourist numbers and engaging audiences. However, the difficulty of permanent installation art is as follows; if its audiences are mostly day visitors as apposed to local or regional visitors, the day visitors are very likely to view the artwork and leave the town without the artwork really having made an influential impact on the user or given the user a clear, coherent understanding and knowledge of the town’s historic value. It is highly important that if the installation is to make any impact on its participants it must engage people directly, captivate ‘people who do no regularly visit galleries and museums’ drawing upon socioeconomic and political matters that affect Blackpool’s communities (Virginia Maksymowicz, 1985, p.148).Permanent artworks also suggest short-term visitors are more likely to engage with and explore artwork’s within their immediate surroundings apposed to exploring the town as whole. I believe this is how areas within towns can end up largely deprived and undeveloped as less people are visiting and experiencing spaces. This is in contrast to selective areas of Margate that are vibrant and have been developed at the discretion of the council and Labour government. Take for example, Cliftonville, one Margate’s oldest areas, as Professor Loretta Lee and John McKiernan explains that there was ‘more publicity about gallery events and exhibitions scattered around London’ than about Turner contemporary. This would suggest that Turner’s operation as a gallery is more concerned with financial gain, private investors and publicity than the development and rejuvenation of its most deprived areas in Margate for which Turner is situated in, with Loretta Lees and John McKiernan referring to this process as the ‘turner effect’.

The author suggests two solutions for which the use of contemporary installation art can gradually improve Margate’s socioeconomic status and mostly significantly how local residents perceive and experience the town. Permanent installation artworks could be evenly dispersed around the town. Larger interactive installation artworks could be situated in the most deprived areas to encourage user and social participation. The alternative is to create a series of contemporary temporary pop-up installation art works that circulate around the town for which will ensure each area of the town is equally developed, allowing artists and non-artists to collaborate in a mutual space. Exploring creative making as an interactive activity, for which allows locals to collaborate with the artists to create of sellable creative forms to be sold to tourists; this as an activity to take place within a temporary pop-up art installation. The author argues that a contemporary design with aesthetical appeal that uses spectacle as an experience and engagement strategy can be used to target younger audiences and wider, distant audiences through the social inclusion of learning through participation with arts and engaging with others around them. By using ‘the context of their day-to-day lives’, for which tackles and addresses issues within the community and subjects that are important to them. Art can therefore become ‘intelligible to a non-art audience’, with the strategy behind the artworks hidden within the installation, for which the outcome is made up of several participative artworks (Virginia Maksymowicz, 1985, p.156). Matarasso’s study of the social impact of participation in the arts explains how participation in art-based projects can impact positively on the user’s personal development, encourage self-reflection and heighten the user’s confidence. However, quantifying the impact of art-based projects on the participant in regards to social gains within the community is difficult to measure and challenges ‘the extent to which creative processes can-or should-be managed and controlled’ (Tony Newman et al: 2001).

I believe that, in order to resolve issues with the pubic sphere, it is essential that communities tackle the ‘practical problems of public and private space’ directly, ‘we must operate at a theoretical level’ by encouraging the sharing of ideas to resolve social issues. We must construct what Julia Kristeva has called “a diagonal axis” between theory and practice, “a place between” the two, where a more integrative approach to making and interpretation of public spaces can begin.’ This place in-between refers to the moment in which a design or concept is considered to become a physical form or being in practice. The author supports this moment between theory and practice as an important stage of resolving conflicts within design or town regeneration strategies, arguing that the level of which the concept is approached both systematically and thoroughly can effectively determine its overall impact (Sarah Bennett, John Butler, 2002, p.23). The author also begins to consider, the placement of installation artworks and the accessibility of properties, Sarah Bennett, John Butler: 2002 suggests that the ‘public’ nature of these sites requires closer examination in order to reveal their often rather problematic ‘private’ status in terms of ownership and accessibility.’

Ipswich is an example of a town that has involved communities in council decisions and policymaking, apposed to an arts-led approach to regeneration. The establishing of ‘service panels’ in Ipswich Council, Suffolk, England 1975; benefited the town in several areas: urban town planning & management, cultural and creative industries, preservation & conservation and regeneration strategies for which unites local councilors, local community groups and members of the public. Invited through advertisements in local media outlets the service panel can impact and determine service developments within the town and advice the policy committee. ‘Regeneration is not an end in itself: it is about people and the quality of the lives they will be able to lead. Unless projects involve, and win the support of local people, they cannot be sustained over time’, therefore further community exclusion from town regeneration strategies and decision making ‘will produce only resentment and hostility.’ (Landry et al: 1996) The author believes with the success of pre-Turner’s small street installation works in Margate and Blackpool’s series of temporary installation on the seafront that art in the public domain in form of installation art can successfully encourage conversations between visitors and local residents through them engaging with installations. Installation art is significant to Blackpool; not only acting as a subtle form of publicity to attract varied, distant audiences into aiding the growth of the town’s economy, through uniting members of the public and communities into tackling issues together. However, there is often an expectation that art-based projects most have a ‘positive and measurable impact on local social capital.’ For which is clear in both coastal towns that this is a model that is ‘routinely demanded by funding organizations and so formal evaluations of projects become a condition of investment.’ (Tony et al: 2001).

I believe the intentions of the art-project and the art project itself adhering to the funding specifications becomes counter-productive to its positive intention of bringing together communities and improving the town’s social status. Therefore, the art-based project has a high risk of solely gaining capital and it’s private investors, resolving financial deprivation as apposed to addressing social deprivation with communities as priority. Perhaps, Margate could learn from Blackpool; create stronger regional partnerships with Canterbury, Broadstairs and London, cross-promoting their events and sharing technical equipment to reduce event costs. Although Turner contemporary offers adult learning services, there isn’t however a clear enough direction of what career path the services and training can lead into or variety of different career outlets, with arts being an obvious and career path. It is true that Margate’s artistic outlets: Turner Contemporary, Dreamland and artist studios liaise with local schools regional universities and organisations for which I the author feels lacks a definitive outcome. These artistic outlets could explore the options of continued future practice more thoroughly and graduate programmes to improve employment within the coastal town and encourage Margate’s regional borders to become more aware and active in its regeneration. Using artist-led programmes with the spectacle of installation to attract audiences to have a chain reaction, gradually resolving social and economic issues through community and regional partnership.

Lee Mingwei and His Relations study of The Art of Participation - Seeing, Conversing, Gift-Giving, Writing, Dining and Getting Connected to the World, in New York, explores the audience participation with the arts and its connections with people and art practice. Accessible to all, the artist organises a series of conditions that encourages conversation between the participants and the sharing of memories using culture and history as a mediator in his mixed media of art installations. The artist’s mending project, I believe was his most engaging work allowing the participant to realise their significant role in the interactive activity. Therefore ‘art is only capable of effect when the role is transformed and practice altered according to necessity and specificity of the space in which we find ourselves.’ (Andy Hewitt and Mel Jordan, 2004, p.49)Reflecting on Blackpool and Margate’s use of contemporary installation art as a socioeconomic driver of regeneration, the author argues that an interactive art installation is more effective and beneficial form of audience engagement through physical and flexible organized learning. ‘Taking installation art beyond the visual spectacle but suggests installation art can use a strategy of game, for which ‘organises events each time becoming a work of art evolving around the interaction of participants itself.’ (Ryszard W. Kluszczynski, 2010, p.7). In the journal of Aesthetics & Culture: Strategies of interactive art, author Kluszczynski (2010) argues that the organisation of a interactive artwork has the potential to create a lonely experience for the participant or allow them to become a valued member of an interactive community, connected by strategy for which can result in the participant being ‘accepted for a further stage with a series of events’ or the participant could feel eliminated and isolated by the process of interactive learning, through social inclusion. For this he suggests eight strategies of game to be implemented in the construction of interactive art: ‘strategy of instrument, game, archives, labyrinth, rhizome, system, network, and spectacle’ (Ryszard W. Kluszczynski, 2010, p.1, 7).

With the potential risk of user isolation and exclusion he suggests that can be overcome by ensuring the interactive artwork draws the attention of the ‘users not only toward the interaction’s course’, but with the intentions of the artwork engaging audiences into ‘undertaking issues different than the game itself, issues that are not directly connected with the game.’ Therefore using the strategy of game to bring together audiences into a mutual space for which they become engaged in art. Therefore, one could argue that by using the strategy and organisation of interactive learning with installation art as a valuable learning experience that deals with and tackles contemporary issues within the community, I believe it is a more beneficial and influential experience to the participant in comparison to the viewing and engaging of permanent art installations.

Comparative Coastal towns; Brighton

Ranked the third highest coastal town on the UK Vitality Index Report, measuring the economic strength of towns and cities in the United Kingdom, the author explores Brighton as an example of a successful coastal town, using culture-led regeneration and architecture to attract visitors and aid its growth as a thriving seaside resort. As with Blackpool and Margate the arrival seawater treatment in Brighton saw an influx of visitors migrate from London in 1750. The presence of the Prince of Wales in 1783 grounded Brighton as a seaside resort of interest. The Prince of Wales visit, led to the construction of Brighton’s first Royal Pavilion, designed by Henry Holland and later redesigned by John Nash, thus establishing Brighton as a tourist destination of royal and architectural interest. The coastal town began to pursue a culture-led form of regeneration, using the Royal Pavilion to celebrate culture; playing host to theatre performances. Prospering and rapidly growing in tourist numbers, the 1841 railway connected day-trippers to its resort most of which London passengers, now affordable to middle and working class citizens. Increasing in Architectural infrastructure and tourist attractions, 19th century Brighton started to explore how publicity and cross-promotion, using hotels as a medium for which tourists are attracted to the coastal town. In 1913 owner of the Royal Albion Hotel, Sir Harry Preston contacted and invited London newspaper journalists, established actors, authors, film and sport celebrities and the Prince of Wales to cross-promote the hotel, in bid to attract wider and wealthy visitors, for which elevated the hotel’s popularity with regional visitor through its celebrity association. Where most regions in the UK received a descent in tourism during War World War I & II, Brighton still continued to flourish as a seaside resort and post 1950s when overseas package holidays were in high demand. Tackling the threat of increasing UK residents travelling abroad during the summer season, Brighton council was pro-active in exploring a variety of tourism attraction and regeneration strategies. The inviting of promettes models in training gave Brighton global sex appeal for which it became iconic for its host of models

With the establishing of the University of Sussex in 1961, now Brighton University, the university acquired a strong academic reputation, and a social reputation for radicalism, witnessing the coastal town evolve into a metropolitan seaside resort, attracting visitors via its cultural exploits. Brighton’s liberalist attitude invited a growing young artist community and young population for which the town began to cater to the student lifestyle through assembling bars and restaurants on the seafront and bettering the town’s nightlife facilities. The constructing of the Brighton Conference Hall in 1977 attracted political and governmental interest that aided the town in securing funding and large-scale events. Playing host to 160 events per year generating £8 million and a further £50 million is generated indirectly through visitor’s spending money during their stay. Events organised via the conference hall range from political party conferences to nationwide festivals and concerts. The establishing of the conference hall also allowed for the growth of Brighton’s office sector as a base for the financial services industry. This was a key factor in Brighton working to create a stable economy, in a bid to prevent and lessen the possibility of regional deprivation. The boom of tourism and sky-high property prices rapidly turned to bust the late 1980s and continued into the 1990s, as the coastal town was hit with an economic recession. In 1992, unemployment was at 15% with some inner city and council estates regions as high as 30%. As with Blackpool and Margate’s financial depression in the1990s, Brighton became highly saturated with private landlords and HMO’s. Commercial offices and retailers going into administration, the seafront became awash with anti-social behavior and a counter-culture mentality.

The Strategic Development Initiative (SDI) enabled the council to invest in the social community by constructing creative social spaces as mutual space for locals to communicate with surrounding communities in a bid to prevent anti-social behavior on the seafront. With tourism contributing £750m to the economy, the council became curators in their own right. The recruitment of a young in-house landscape architect, introduced innovative modernist designs to the lower promenade area for which his expertise assisted the marketing of Brighton’s historic arches for private sector investment. This newfound aesthetical appeal helped restore hope in Brighton, drawing in third party private investors and entrepreneurs for which funded regeneration on Brighton’s seafront, as the town’s main visitor magnetism and sustainable source of wealth. Working closely with airports and travel operators, the coastal town incorporated a ‘chameleon bar’ concept; by day the bar operates as a restaurant and as a nightclub into the early hours of the morning, for which enables the bar to be vibrant day and night, boosting business profits. With gradual turnover investments, council matched funding, and citywide regeneration the town becomes symbolic of historic architecture and its vibrant day and nightlife. Investing highly in the education, the council embraced in-migration visitors by establishing language schools for which allowed for high graduate employment for who contribute largely to Brighton’s economic wealth. The Queen’s visit in 2000, granted Brighton & Hove status, fortifying the town as an attractive, fashionable and culture-rich seaside destination for which attracted west-end performances. A clear mutual event that existed in all the three key coastal towns was the economic recession in the early 1990s during the shift in government leadership, for which resulted in widespread social deprivation, witnessing the foreclosure of businesses, manufacturing industries and financial stability. However, unlike Margate and Blackpool, Brighton was able to reverse the effects of deprivation through a proactive approach to tackling problems that effect the town’s development and culture-led regeneration.

The council determined Brighton’s specialism early, for which John. K. Walton in his online journal on; the seaside resort: a British cultural export, emphasising the importance of promoting ‘the seaside as opposed to the capital and more conventional emblems of Englishness and Britishness.’ The marketing of the coastal town as a metropolitan seaside resort that celebrates its history in performance and its exploitation of hotels to entertain well-known, famous faces was a skilful form of town marketing and publicity and in a bid to increase the tourist population. As a result of the council’s tactical approach that encouraged early community and regional social inclusion through various programmes, i.e. the training of models and close collaboration with its University and higher education hubs to town attracted the attention of funding organisations and private investors. The tactical approach of exploring varied regeneration techniques has allowed the town to avoid sole reliance on tourism as an driver of financial wealth, through its collaboration with business leaders allowing the town to host large-scale international events a high driver of Brighton’s economy for which Margate could learn from.

Conclusion

Contemporary installation art dates back to the 19th century and arts-led regeneration pre-dates the 16th century. Although this form of regeneration has existed for many centuries it is interesting to note that with and without combining the regeneration strategy with a different strategy to achieve a common goal. It would seem that the success of any regenetion strategy is pre-determined by political powers and funding organisations and the success of an art-approach to regeneration lies in the hands of the community to create a condition that is self-sufficient. Therefore, one could argue that ‘the solution to the problem might come from a new spirit of collaboration between arts communities and public powers, so that instead of just helping creative people convert buildings, grants are also directed at helping artist’s co-ops to get affordable mortgages so that they can buy the building’s they have refurbished as studios and galleries’ (Sarah Bennett, John Butler, 2002, p.95). Reflecting on Mary Portas’s government commissioned involvement with Margate to revive the seafront and its unpopulated shops, I believe the enormity of Margate’s social and economic problems cannot be resolved with a quick-fix solution. The deliverable to repopulate Margate through short-term pop-up shops and the renovating of small retailers was an over ambiguous brief considering the decline of the seafront and town centre was an outcome of a larger issue. The larger issue being, problems within council management, with their approach to regeneration lacking in structure, focusing on regeneration strategies that based on capital gain and invite private investment, as apposed to addressing issues in social deprivation as a prime priority. Blackpool’s approach to regeneration in comparison began to explore more varied regeneration strategies that encourage regional partnership, using installation art as a long-term method of attracting visitors to the coastal town. As mentioned earlier, the problems however of permanent public artworks is that it can easily lose its historical and cultural value without the presence of the design or space that explains the context and intentions of the artwork thoroughly. Art galleries are a safe investment that can become ‘catalysts of further urban regeneration when an ‘arts district’ emerges close by.’ In this, I refer to Turner contemporary and approach to social inclusion through the curating of artwork. The author argues that Turner Contemporary is a successful gallery that successfully attracts national and regional visitors.

. However, it would seem that its success has not been extended to its surroundings for which remains, undeveloped and deprived. A genuine connection with the working class needs to be established through, engaging the public in art that deals with contemporary issues affecting the town, to bring communities together. Pre-turner succeed in its intentions of social inclusion by tackling community issues head on, an approach that was a contributing factor in Brighton’s socioeconomic recovery in the 1980s. The early installations allowed the participant to collaborate directly with the artist, learning through engagement and their interactive learning programme. This is missing in Turner, the artist exists only in theory and fabrication and so a connection cannot be easily established and meaning in the artwork is lost. This can potentially isolate and exclude non-artists from the process of learning through engagement, without the presence of a mediator to connect the processes. If Turner contemporary ‘were to become a space that was both detached from the idea of art as autonomy as a form of isolate, and from the administration of the state (and of capital), we might then begin to have a more public art gallery.’ (Andy Hewitt and Mel Jordan, 2004, p.16). The locality of my interior architecture & design projects began to fuel my interest in Margate, analysing the roles of governing and funding bodies, the artistic and local community and my role as a design student. Collaborating with Dreamland and Hemingway Design in 2014, allowed me to understand their role in Margate’s regeneration as a cultural driver of wealth. The renovating and restoring of Dreamland will inject back Margate’s history that was lost during its years of decline, aiming to create job and training opportunities and interactive learning programmes. However, to focus primarily on tourism directed strategies is to be unwise. For, the success of tourism can only be guaranteed through a collaboration of varied strategies that address a town’s most deprived areas first, through organised and tactical design planning.

Reinforcing the importance spatial arrangement in relation installation art in public space, Sarah Bennett and John Butler draw upon the multidisciplinary French theorist Michel de Certau. The theorist argues that the notion of ‘spatial stories’ reinforces the spatial constituent of a narrative, for which he emphasises ‘stories are the events which take place.’ The authors suggest the spatial narrative ‘acts a theoretical device, which allows us to understand the urban fabric in terms of relationships between people, things and places.’ What this means in relation to designing for Margate, is the importance of the designer’s understanding and analysis of a town’s contextual background for it to inform a design framework for which addresses a town’s social status and environmental state. For this Sarah Bennett and John Butler suggest constructing ‘a series of contemporary urban art projects’ that are ‘fascinated with notions of dispersal and narrative articulating different versions of the spatial story’, thus allowing the user to make psychological connections between the ‘otherwise disconnected elements of the city’ (Sarah Bennett, John Butler, 2002, p.24-25). For this I propose, widespread contemporary arts installations that circulate around Thanet district, allowing the artist and user to collaborate in a mutual space, so that the user can become the curator and determine the fate of their engagement and its potential to manifest into their personal development and self-reflection. It is highly important that tasks are flexible and uncontrolled to reduce resistance to participate. Using the spectacle of engagement and social inclusion as a means of learning. By learning I refer to the user’s realisation of their potential through carefully organised activities, as an extended programme of the installation. By ‘adopting ‘a more realistic and compromising approach to the funding of arts and urban regeneration’, using auction oriented initiatives and public exhibitions with close collaboration with educational institutions and artist communities, the reliance on government and organisation funding can be avoided, to which self-efficiency can exist. For ‘if we can show that even in such adverse circumstances, arts-led regeneration can prosper, then we would have demonstrated its deeds beyond doubt’ (Sarah Bennett, John Butler, 2002, p.79) with the intention of fabricated in future practice.

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