 Marcin Dudek, Sing When You're Winning at KARST, 2016. Courtesy of KARST. KARST is the largest independent contemporary art venue in Plymouth: it is both a public gallery space and an artist studio complex. Founded in 2012, it has made extraordinary tracks in a mere-six years – from humble beginnings, it is currently a National Portfolio Organisation for the period 2018-2022 and a recently registered as a charity. In travelling to its home – a one-storey, ex-warehouse in the Millbay area of the city – I was able to comprehend the true scale of its achievements and contributions to the expansion of Plymouth's creative community. Following a busy few days of Plymouth Art Weekender (28-30 September, a three-day visual arts festival in Plymouth), KARST's Business Director, Donna Howard, is energetic as ever – it's clear that her passion and enthusiasm for people and 'getting things done,' is one of the organisation's major drivers. Full report: http://bit.ly/2RQp3Wu
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 The post-industrial limbo: it's a scenario in which city councils, landowners and town planners jostle and dance with land profit-margins, while members of the public romanticise, fear or simply dismiss brownfields as 'undesirables.' I, myself growing up in Stoke-on-Trent, garnered a generic apathy towards the ex-industrial sites – many of which continued to surface long into the 1990s and 2000s. As an adult, now in my late 20s, I have been privy to artistic responses which reframe these marginalised spaces as places of social and ecological value. This summer's Brownfield Block Party – a melange of Improv, Northern Soul, Turncoats chatter, Bingo, Co-Building and a whole lot of Wigan Salad – is a prime example that changes afoot. Hosted by The Oasis Social Club (TOSC) – an ongoing pop-up platform for debate and some light-hearted humour – the two-day Brownfield Block Party took place on the now derelict site of the former Spode Works Glazing Laboratory in order to facilitate conversations on the uses of post-industrial space. Devised by artist Rebecca Davies as the final stage of her Monthly Matics, the event sought to alter our perspective of a brownfield site – simply by alerting audiences to the fact that the land was, temporarily, for public use; fencing was drawn back and LED guide lights illuminated the way to TOSC's “part entertainment venue, part discussion space.” |
