fromCONCENTRATE

Developing my MMME project proposal – I’m wondering what kinds of information and experience are specific to this site and cannot be found elsewhere?  What aspects are important, yet hidden, and need to be interpreted for the visitor?

In past times, fortifications and great walls stood as visible public testimony to the need for constant vigilance against enemy attack.  Newcastle’s Black Gate and Castle Keep have, throughout history, been the site of various sieges and, notably, two of these took place during construction works whilst the guard was down.   The Cathedral has also played a strategic role, employing human shields to defend the city:

Tradition has it that during the siege of Newcastle in 1644, when the Scots army, under the Earl of Leven, threatened to blow up the church with a cannon, the Major, Sir John Marley, put his Scottish prisoners in the lantern tower and thus saved it from destruction.

Local political stability is these days more secure, and the ‘New-Castle’, like all technology it seems, has fallen into obsolescence, to be regarded with nostalgia.  Any message of ‘constant vigilance’ is much better conveyed today ‘virally’ through news headlines and train station announcements, so I ask myself: “What NOW is an appropriate use of this kind of ‘public realm’?”

My thoughts trace back to a presentation given by the artist Krzysztof Wodiczko during 2009’s inaugural ANDfestival: “MACHINE TO FIRE THE TRUTH”…

For the piece ‘War Veteran Vehicle,’ Krzysztof Wodiczko transformed a military Land Rover, replacing what would normally be an onboard weaponry system (missile launcher, radar device etc.) with his high powered ‘projection battlestation’ – a video projector and public address system which visually and acoustically blasted words and voices of traumatised soldiers against the blind and deaf walls of the city “…as if a continuation of war.”

Wodiczko worked with UK servicemen and women and their families, recording discussions about the experience after returning from a warzone. He described this process as very difficult, partly because overwhelming experiences can prevent people from speaking easily, but also, because the M.O.D. were unsupportive. One of the veterans, Rob , talked about his own internal self-censorship – “something that the army puts into you (like a chip) which dictates “you can’t say this” and “you can’t say that.”

Soldiers today are trained like machines to relish the battle – however, the training does not extend to ‘un-training’ and a return to civilian life.  Soldiers are trained to control their emotion (‘opening up’ is a sign of weakness) but every so often one of these machines goes wrong: former soldiers make up nearly one-tenth of the UK prison population.*

“the city speaks in what it says and in what it does not say” – Wodiczko

Aggressively situating these citizen testimonies in public space is an attempt to break through the wall of silence.  Wodiczko explained that the action must be aggressive since we are already relentlessly bombarded by advertising, information and news – resulting in our typical symptom of public experience: ‘numbness.’

The ‘War Veteran Vehicle’ speaks loudly and eloquently on behalf of those who cannot speak, and suggests an alternative democratic role for our public space: “the city as mouthpiece for the people”.  Wodiczko located his work in a historic trajectory, citing an obscure ancient Greek term – parasia – meaning “a special right of free, frank and open, fearless speaking in public space.” This notion encapsulates an obligation and duty to critique authority, denounce what is wrong and shake up public consciousness.  The “War Veteran Vehicle” acts as ‘parasiasta’ – bringing to shoppers and heritage visitors voices returned from the far and distant conflicts which are granting our perception of security.

*source Guardian

Watch the whole of Krzysztof Wodiczko’s “MACHINE TO FIRE THE TRUTH” presentation at FACT.tv

Of course – another strategy for making information/data and concepts more ‘tangible’ or ‘graspable’ when exhibiting in the public realm, is to re-present the information using a ‘loaded’ material, (as this example from a Liverpool Museum demonstrates…)

How to visualise data/information, in a tangible way, in the public realm?

Back in November I had a look at this work, DEATH COUNTER by Santiago Sierra, which was installed on the front of Hiscox Insurance HQ in central London, for the course of 2009.

The giant LED, reminiscent of the digital clocks and information boards seen throughout most major cities, tallies (in real-time) the total number of human deaths worldwide, starting from zero at 00:00:00 on the 1st of January 2009.

In terms of ‘visualising data,’ there is a simple reciprocal relationship between a binary conception of life OR death and the counter-intuitive representation of these concepts as ‘one’ (death) and ‘zero’ (life), accumulating on the huge display.  Despite the potentially emotive subject matter, and the high value placed on individual human lives, the presentation is unspectacular in the extreme:

business as usual…

One quite remarkable aspect of the Sierra work, is the way in which it was funded – through a legal contract. The work was loaned to Hiscox for the duration of the exhibition, in exchange for a €150,000 life insurance policy, which would be payable in the event of the artists death.

Through a contextual balancing of an art-market value and an insurance value of the artists life, the work highlights and makes explicit the core component of the insurance industry – careful translation of the perceived, constant, risk of catastrophe into bankable capital.*

* As well as providing insurance for major banks such as Lloyds of London, Bermuda based Hiscox, provide cover in the event of kidnapping, hurricane and financial disasters. They posted pre-tax profits of £320.6m for 2009.

London Evening Standard (9/11/2009) / Insurance Daily

In considering gesture, interaction, sound and public space intervention the organ grinder (and his monkey) are springing to mind…

The wikipedia entry in this case is really excellent and says more than I could say – some highlights:

They apparently were not interested in keeping their instrument in tune or cranking at a rate suited to the music which was “programmed” in their barrel organ.

Many cities in the United Kingdom had ordinances prohibiting organ grinders. The authorities often encouraged policemen to treat the grinders as beggars or public nuisances.

the disappearance of organ grinders from European streets was in large part due to the early application of national and international Copyright laws.

(Image from Wikimedia Commons.)

Huddersfield St.Patrick’s Day Parade

town centre – public space – collective memory – heritage – temporality – shared experience – crowds – the Parade! – What a day!

Parade Head Steward, Ginger McCullogh and Huddersfield Town Crier, Victor Watson during Huddersfield’s tenth St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday 14th March 2010.