(above: Shrine to the Anonymous Graffiti Artist, mixed media installation, BADgertRAP)
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STREET SHRINES PROJECT:
Artists putting or performing with shrines on Bath's Georgian streets
Pretext:
The Street Shrines. Yes it can do. But in Bath it normally shines beige.
In an article in the Observer (Sept 16th 2007) Stephen Bayley describes Bath as being the beige city. The article accuses Bath of having a virulent hatred of all things modern following the rejection by the Tory-controlled BANES Council of James Dyson’s £25 million plan to create a new school of design and the proposals to extend the Holburne Museum.
“A city that flinches from the optimistic and new? The answer, it seems, is yes. What a depressing place, " concludes Bayley.
Ian Martin adds:
"However, I fear that Stephen Bayley is right in his analysis and that Bath will continue to totter blindly towards becoming a Georgian theme
park and not a vibrant city of the 21st century."
There is also some damning observation by Nejla Unal, a sales executive from Venue magazine:
"Bath is very pretty, but I don't see why there can't be change here. People in Bath are quite protective about the buildings. They could do
with being a bit more open-minded. You can't put a sign up outside a restaurant without spending six to nine months dealing with the council. It
just makes things difficult for everyone. Bath can seem stuffy to younger people, particularly to friends I know in Radstock and Bristol, but I
guess if you live in a pretty place you've got to put up with it. I recently heard an American tourist ask a passer-by whether or not Bath
closed in the winter. They assumed it was some Georgian theme park, which isn't the impression that Bath people would want to give of this
city."
Along comes the white knight (dark knight? ed) in the form of Fringe Arts Bath a festival of new artwork by people from around the country in disused spaces all over the city. And in amongst it to force the grittier edge of its mission is the Street Shrines project.
The idea for the project has some origins in the sight of a number of elaborate and kitsch roadside shrines in parts of Europe and even random bunches of flowers by the side of the road in the UK which are often bizarre shrines to murder victims or more frequently victims of roadside accidents. However, it was intended that these artists' shrines might reference simple everyday objects or events or be more political. By street we mean anywhere viewable from the outside. Some are worth getting permission for to allow the work a bit more staying power but this project brings the fringe a surprise element and has attracted a lot of performance art proposals due to its experimental and less formatted nature.
The Street Shrine project aims:
-to distract from Bath's 'beige city' image
-to attempt to use street spaces not even thought about
-to make work that is discrete at first glance
-and also to make impact work by choosing a site/object that might be recurring or repeating the same work in many different locations
Now there's maybe a sense in which these aims conflict i.e. to be discrete will allow the work to last for longer but this plays into the Bath's image makers' hands and helps to conserve its 'beigeness' (blandness?) So short term big impact may be more important to achieve, such as introducing big work or bright colours or antagonistic work.
Much of the activity is based around Bath's out of sorts artisan's quarter around Walcot street. An area which has traditionally been seen as quite rebellious in holding Walcot Nation Day and other such events engineered through the Bath fringe's heart and home in The Bell pub.
The Street Shrines project is doing what it can to ignore those constraints put up by the local authorities and tourist industry. Perhaps to give the impression that Bath actually has real people in it other than tourists and millionaires.
Above you can view some of the work that has made it to creation stage.
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Sources/links:
Ian Martin's blog
Stephen Bayley
Fringe Arts Bath
