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C102
Article
Vox
Pop:
Vivien
Burnside
Artist based in Belfast
Responding to Damien
Coyle's statement on regions and art centres, particularly
noting in it "... the powers that be, ... believing that the
arts have no real importance in our society ... "
If visual art were
placed highly in our society's value system and, consequently,
funding in place for creative and committed people to work
for its development and dissemination, I suggest that appropriate
facilities would follow as a matter of course.
I've recently been
working in an environment which offers an effective marriage
of architecture with a broad range of visual artforms. In
this place, both are experienced by the widest possible cross-section
of society and are seen by hundreds of people daily. However,
that place is a hospital in North Belfast, not an arts centre.
It was in hospitals
though, in Northern Ireland from the mid 1990s that artists
were offered a collaborative role through integrated arts
projects. Although involvement began at the later stages of
planning, artist participants in these projects have, often
for the first time, worked directly with architects, designers
and administrators. They have also had to consider the needs
of the users of the building; in this case patients, staff
and visitors. Not only does this experience have a bearing
on the work which is produced, I suggest that it also gives
the artist confidence and understanding of the relationship
between built environment, art and audience; a relationship
which is clearly at the core of any debate on arts centres.
Only a tiny proportion of those who walk through our hospitals
will view contemporary art, craft or design in a gallery.
That visual art is
not esteemed has been made plain to young people in North
Ireland for generations. Often, the more academically able
students have been/are blocked from taking art as a subject
and, regularly, pupils are discouraged from any interest in
art on the basis that they "are no good at it" which leaves
art as a specialist, rather than a core activity in post-primary
education. By comparison, these same students will have no
choice but to take English to GCSE level and, probably, maths
and IT. Sports will probably be compulsory.
The values are unspoken
but clear. This society is not concerned if our children are
visually educated. The environment in which they are taught,
the faces of the towns and city streets in which they live,
all reinforce this.
These children, who
then grow up to be our councillors, planners, accountants,
retailers, developers, administrators, general public and
potential art audience do not generally metamorphose into
visually literate adults who concern themselves with aesthetics,
creativity, sensitivity or a sense of place. There are exceptions
certainly, but the majority of people from our education system
see contemporary art galleries as alien space. They experience
a lack of ease - both from a lack of familiarity and dialogue
with art - following post-primary estrangement from the work
which we aim to promote. Outreach initiatives have been undertaken
in galleries and museums across Ireland to positive effect,
but surely it is not until the mainstream education systems
themselves value art that a sea change will occur.
I accept that multi-purpose
arts facilities are often deeply unsatisfactory for visual
artwork. As an artist, the last thing I want is an over-designed
space where I compete with the light fittings, and where liberties
may not be taken with the wall finish. Consultation with artists
from a range of disciplines would make clear the need for
a robust, flexible space, easily entered, but discrete, from
other areas in the building. This space should not only physically
respond to the needs of visual artwork but, through long term
planning and commitment on the part of its commissioners,
should secure a future for contemporary art in that region.
However, the dissociation referred to here indicates in most
cases that emphasis for space and support in arts centres
will be placed on the aspects which those in control feel
will be most popular with users: those which entertain and
bring in revenue.
Despite
this, I believe that a visual arts foothold should be maintained
in arts centers. A multiuse facility at least offers a route
for a broader constituency into the arena of contemporary
visual art, and it is attitude, rather than architecture,
I suspect, that will continue to shape ourselves
and our buildings.
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