Annex 2
HOW ARTISTS
CAN BRING
HERITAGE TO
LIFE
East
Artist Louise K Wilson was invited to respond
to the historic National Trust site at Orford Ness, an internationally
important nature reserve with a rich military heritage, as part
of Contemporary Art in Historic Places. The result was an audio
and visual installation at the site entitled "A Record of
Fear". With sound and voice at its centre, the piece drew
on the mythology of a site that has much to do with "broadcasting"
and "listening". A CD of acoustical memories accompanied
the commission, which was also featured at the Wolsey Art Gallery
in Ipswich. Arts Council England, East contributed £70,000
to Contemporary Art in Historic Places. The National Trust worked
in partnership with Commissions East and English Heritage.
East Midlands
Lincoln's The Collection is a new contemporary
art space housed in the city's archaeological museum. Exhibitions
reinterpret the collections on show from a modern perspective.
Also in Lincolnshire, the Beacon project commissioned a series
of temporary artworks at heritage sites around the county, while
Nottingham's youarehere festival places live art events and interventions
at heritage sites around the city including Nottingham Castle
Museum and Art Gallery.
North East
Arts Council England, North East has supported
a programme of artists' residencies at Durham Cathedral, part
of a World Heritage Site. This provides the opportunity for artists
to respond to the cathedral not just as a powerful statement in
stone but as a place of worship and the centre of a working community.
The cathedral will host "Amu@Durham" in February 2006—a
specially adapted performance by Random Dance and young people
from four schools as part of Creative Partnerships' work in Durham
and Sunderland.
North West
Arts Council England, North West in partnership
with the Arts and Humanities Research Board funded a series of
residencies at Manchester Museum. Artists were asked to respond
to the natural history collections housed at the museum. The project
was designed to attract new audiences to the museum and to foster
interaction between historical, artistic and curatorial perspectives
as well as research opportunities. The success of the project
was confirmed by an evaluation undertaken by the University of
Manchester.
South East
Arts Council England, South East is working
with the National Trust on the development of a strategic plan
designed to extend the quality of arts activity in National Trust
venues with a view to developing a younger and more diverse audience
that at present. An audit of National Trust buildings is being
undertaken to determine which might be suitable for artists' accommodation—the
Generating House at Petworth in West Sussex has a potential use
as a dance space and as small artists' studios.
South West
Arts Council England, South West entered into
a formal partnership agreement with English Heritage in 2003 that
focused on audience development. This has led to the establishment
of a joint forum and the drawing up of a draft action plan for
the region. The focus for 2005-06 is the "Living Legends"
project at Tintagel in Cornwall. This includes a community writer
and storyteller as well as public art and workshop opportunities
forming part of the wider regeneration of Tintagel.
West Midlands
The Shropshire-based Meadow Gallery, which has
previously put on exhibitions inside and in the grounds of Bruford
House, received £23,000 Lottery funding for "Vertigo"
at Sudley Castle. This exhibition of new commissions and recent
works placed works in the confined space of the castle's dungeons
and in the open air and included an education and outreach programme.
As well as being the first contemporary art exhibition at the
castle, none of the artists featured had previously worked in
the natural environment.
ACCESSING OUR
HERITAGE
The Shooting Gallery
Cartwright Hall in Bradford, in partnership
with PC Format magazine commissioned "The Shooting
Gallery" which saw the computer game "Unreal Tournament"
mapped onto gallery spaces at the hall as an audience development
project. This was hugely successful at attracting younger audiences
to the gallery.
UNCAGED
The UNCAGED exhibition at the Museum of Childhood
in London was composed of series of installations looking at the
relationships between virtual spaces and real spaces and the transition
between the two. The project was designed to "uncage"
computer-based realities and to bring the computer world closer
to our human experience.
20 January 2006
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