The Independent Art School
Seminar
Thursday 25 March 2004
2pm to 5pm
[shift] Unit 60-63, Merrion Superstore, Leeds.
www.independent-art-school.org.uk
www.emerged.net


As part of [shift] the Independent Art School is organising a seminar that will bring together new critical and cultural perspectives on how people relate to the city, and how artists interact with and express this.
Increasingly artists are using the fabric of the city as their medium. It is becoming an irresistible playground in which to make subtle changes and overt statements that explore the aesthetic and political peculiarities of everyday life.
The artists in [shift] are making works that dissect consumer uses of space, which honour personal histories, and which create surprise interruptions in the daily patterns of the Merrion Superstore and Leeds City Centre.
But what is the history of artists intervening in the city? What are the circumstances that lead to these interventions? Are these works reactions against the increasing control structures we live in? Purely aesthetic attractions to familiar landscapes? Or part of a deeper human mark-making urge to possess ones surroundings?
The Independent Art School is inviting Leeds based researchers in Geography, Sociology and Urban Studies to present their own insights into how people function and use the urban environment, how art can affect the city's ambience, and how the individual and collective can reclaim their locality.
[shift] artists will be present to discuss their work in relation to these issues.
The seminar is free and open to all members of the public.
Seminar participants:
Sue Ball will discuss the role of the artist as collaborator in Master Planning and Urban Design. Sue Ball/MAAP is a consultancy in Public Arts Development and Strategy. Sue was artistic director of Pavilion, Leeds, 1996-2000 when she initiated projects, which focussed on artist/architectural collaborations in the public realm. Her current projects include the design and build of four micro-architecture 'towers' in Lincolnshire along the river Witham with Gent based architect Robbrechtendaem and a public art strategy for the Wigan Pier Quarter with consortium RKL.
Camilla Brueton will discuss her work on Urban Mapping and her work for [shift], multi story commemorating the 40th anniversary year of the Merrion Superstore car park- (Leeds first multi storey car park). Camilla is an artist based in London.
Paul Chatterton will give a presentation on three strands of his activity:
- Research on Young people and City Nightlife
- His involvement in campaigns about social issues within the city (Leeds ARC)
- Squatting and fringe cultures within the city (A-Spire).
Paul is a lecturer in Geography at the University of Leeds and a member A-Spire (www.a-spire.org.uk) and Leeds ARC (www.leedsarc.org.uk).
Gayle Chong Kwan will discuss her research for Sensus which explores how food and associated memories can transport Superstore visitors to other places and times; and a mapping of food memories of the city itself. Gayle studied Politics, Modern History and Communications before doing a Fine Art degree at Central St Martins College of Art.
Lucy Gibson will introduce [shift] and the concepts behind developing this project. Lucy is an artist and initiator/project manager of [shift].
Liz Stirling will give a presentation from her interdisciplinary PhD research on space and ideology. Liz is an artist and lecturer based in Leeds.