We the Others: Marketing Suite
Green Bank and PSL are part of Whitehall Waterfront, a development that follows the trend towards highrise, luxury living common in city centres across the U.K. Previous wastelands of Leeds' industrial past are bought up for development; flats and offices crowd the river and canal banks and the waterways remain the only slither of space in public ownership. The raft at the base of our construction is a symbol of survival, of beating the odds. This could be taken as a metaphor for the often precarious position of artist-led initiatives. It could in the current economic climate equally represent the developers and businesses trying stay afloat. There is a symbiotic but often tense relationship between culture and regeneration when artists are instrumental in uplifting an area but ultimately priced out of the market.
Morphic Resonance was an experimental project for PSL by artists and artist collectives nominated by artist-led spaces from across the North of England. For the first 6 weeks the artists worked at PSL, using it as an extended studio space moving towards an exhibition for the final half of the project. Co-curated by Zoe Sawyer of theartmarket, the project examined the urge among artists to control the dissemination and production of art. PSL was open to the public throughout.
*The term 'Morphic Resonance' describes 'the basis of memory in nature. the idea of mysterious telepathy-like interconnections between organisms and of collective memories within species' (Rupert Sheldrake 1981).
For Morphic Resonance at Project Space Leeds (PSL) we collaborated with Sheffield-based artist duo No Fixed Abode in constructing a raft from debris salavaged from the banks of the River Aire on which the exhibition space sits amid a jungle of high-rise waterfront developments. The raft is a scale model of Green Bank a defunct marketing suite, visible across the river from PSL. Referring to this show home (that since Green Bank's demise functions only as an image of what could have been) the work questions the narrative of regeneration surrounding PSL's site.
Green Bank and PSL are part of Whitehall Waterfront, a development that follows the trend towards highrise, luxury living common in city centres across the U.K. Previous wastelands of Leeds' industrial past are bought up for development; flats and offices crowd the river and canal banks and the waterways remain the only slither of space in public ownership. The raft at the base of our construction is a symbol of survival, of beating the odds. This could be taken as a metaphor for the often precarious position of artist-led initiatives. It could in the current economic climate equally represent the developers and businesses trying stay afloat. There is a symbiotic but often tense relationship between culture and regeneration when artists are instrumental in uplifting an area but ultimately priced out of the market.
Morphic Resonance was an experimental project for PSL by artists and artist collectives nominated by artist-led spaces from across the North of England. For the first 6 weeks the artists worked at PSL, using it as an extended studio space moving towards an exhibition for the final half of the project. Co-curated by Zoe Sawyer of theartmarket, the project examined the urge among artists to control the dissemination and production of art. PSL was open to the public throughout.
*The term 'Morphic Resonance' describes 'the basis of memory in nature. the idea of mysterious telepathy-like interconnections between organisms and of collective memories within species' (Rupert Sheldrake 1981).
Morphic Resonance featured: Rachel Lancaster / Ant Macari / No Fixed Abode / Nous Vous / David Steans and Hardeep Pandhal / Rebecca Chesney, Robina Llewellyn and Elaine Speight (Pest Publications) / Richard Rigg / Silver Mawson (Rhiannon Silver & Joe Mawson) / Daniel Simpkins and Penny Whitehead (The Royal Standard)
Related links:
Visit the Project Space Leeds (PSL) website
Visit the No Fixed Abode website
Visit the Morphic Resonance blog
Independent review by Joanna Loveday
More on the BBC website