It doesn’t have to last forever – public art in a changing city
For three nights this weekend, some people will attempt to build an arch made of ice and concrete on the harbourside in Bristol, watched by an audience and accompanied by around 60 non-professional singers. A feat of endurance that feels moving to watch in a way that it’s very hard to describe. And yet, by Monday morning, all trace of it will have vanished. A moment in time for those who were there. A memory.
We do this kind of thing a lot with Mayfest. People tell us that certain parts of the city are forever changed in their minds after seeing a Mayfest performance – the top of a multi-storey carpark becoming a communal ritual of dance and music, writhing naked bodies taking over the cathedral-like expanse of the Galleries shopping centre, a semaphore love story across the harbourside. These experiences are fleeting yet indellible. They change your perception of the city around you.
But what happens when the city itself seems to be undergoing a transformation? Over the next 10 years, large parts of Bristol will change beyond recognition. Loved spaces will disappear, new streets will appear, new ways of moving around the city, and new ways of living, working and playing.
Last year, MAYK began a new project called Confluence – a kind of long-form residency that tries to understand, reflect and share how Bristol is changing. We worked with five artists to begin explorations into the ways in which we relate to a shape-shifting city.
Confluence continues over the next year (you can read how here). And as part of this next stage of the project, we’re holding an informal discussion on Saturday 25 May at 2pm at Design West. Joining MAYK’s Co-Director Matthew Austin, will be:
Seth Honnor, Artistic Director of Kaleider, who are presenting Arch between Friday and Sunday (tickets still available)
Experience Designer, Social Games Practitioner, Creative Technologist, Educator, consultant & TEDx Speaker Imwen Eke
Tanuja Amarasuriya, Director and dramaturg working in theatre, audio, film and XR
A member of Bristol City Council’s Public Art/Arts Development team
Together they’ll discuss how we can collectively reimagine what the provision of public art looks like in the future. How can artists playfully disrupt and create thrilling new place-based work that is non-permanent and has deeper, richer community engagement.
This lively discussion will offer some new ideas around how art in the public realm can help us understand how our city is changing, using Confluence as a jumping-off point.
