Marks of Time VII

16 years ago I finished my first sculptural installation in the landscape of SouthWest Scotland - it was called Quorum and consisted of 6 heads carved from dyke stones and then reinstalled in the dyke. It was sited in Galloway Forest Park in an old sheep fank that was in a clearing in the forestry plantation. I've not visited the work for many years - but was there today

A gauche and (much) younger me - with Quorum in 1997 - loving notebook and pen in pockets and hair and waistline!

You can see more on the work itself here

I was delighted to see the work was still intact (one of the six heads vanished soon after the work was installed) - I love how it has all shifted slightly as, I guess, folk have knocked the heads down and others have put them back........but oh, how I love the way it has weathered!

Quorum 2013 - the three granite heads have their eyes closed and have no view out of the fank

Quorum 2013 - the Greywacke heads have their eyes open and look beyond the fank

The area or forestry around Quorum has recently been harvested - the work was originally about the way the dykes were remnants of a lost world within the plantation.....now the heads have outlasted the crop of trees - I wonder, what next for this place?

The reason I was in the are was to accompany artist James Winnett as he looked for a site for his installation that will be part of Environmental Art Festival Scotland. James needed a high waterfall and it looks like the Grey Mare's Tail in Galloway Forest Park could be the one:

James Winnett - Grey Mare's Tail, Newton Stewart

It is a very special privilege to watch an artist discovering a site for the first time - the Environmental Art Festival is proving a memorable project to be working on already....thanks James, for a grand day in Galloway

A citizens, a citizen for a’ that

‘One step forward and two steps’ back is my experience of the National Debate at the moment. I firmly believe that what we need to be discussing, right now, is the route that we want for Scotland ie what kind of society do we want to build for our common future…..ONLY when there is a foundation of debate* should we then be thinking about the governance we need to deliver it (Independence or part of UK). In other words, to my way of thinking things are pretty ‘cart before horse’ at the moment and I cannot bear the idea that we are all condemned to 18 months of factional debate about whether someone is pro or anti (to me - this just seems as useful as an argument about which soap powder you buy).

My ‘One step forward and two steps back’ experience is that whenever there does appear to be a debate beginning on visions for a future society then a spoiler is thrown into the mix…..that spoiler is almost exclusively ‘nationalism’. When that happens, things shift from being inclusive and outward-facing to being exclusive and, frankly, paranoid.
When the nationalism thing comes into play – we are all suddenly talking about  ‘people of a nation’ rather than a ‘nation made up of people’. Suddenly everyone is looking over their shoulder for their own ‘authenticity’ and quickly the whole things reaches a precipice close to racism….then everyone pulls back and starts to talk about something else entirely and there you go... we are two steps back (because this ‘future vision’ stuff is obviously really uncomfortable territory).

Maybe we need to tackle what we mean by Scottishness head on, and try and put some things to bed, so that we can all move on and become the nation that we dare to dream of.

One of the ways that I need to tackle this is in relation to accent – it seems to me that Scotland is a very inclusive and welcoming place – racial issues such as skin colour seem pretty inconsequential here. However, the clear ‘majority vs minority’ issue here is how someone speaks – this seems, to me, the dominant characteristic that determines whether someone is ‘Scottish’ or ‘not’. I would bet that every person who considers themselves a citizen of Scotland but does not have a ‘scottish accent’ would recognise the experience of being part of a group of folk talking about the way of things in the country....they are keen to make a contribution to the craic….then when they do speak noticing that almost imperceptible meeting of eyes amongst the group with the collective recognition that you are not ‘scottish’ and therefore your right to an opinion comes under question. This subtle racism needs to be brought into the open – if we were discussing discrimination by skin colour, religion etc then we would recognise the territory and have an idea of how to respond.

Of course there are layers of culture associated with any discussion of accents in Scotland – principally... the situation of ‘colonisation’ by people from England – the ‘assumption of authority’ that can be inherent in an ‘English’ accent in Scotland is also a grotesque form of racism and it is understandable why people in Scotland might treat an ‘english’ voice with distrust. BUT if, as a nation, we are to embrace a positive and empowering future we need to getting beyond things that hold us back.

NB. not for one second is this article in any way an attack on local accents in Scotland! The sound of an animated chatter between scot’s accents is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world to me…

All I am saying is that it is maybe time to have sufficient confidence in ourselves and our country such that we can embrace the idea that others want to be part of this place too – that others admire Scotland, its people, its values and its environment and want to consider themselves part of its future.

Imagine a place where cooperation and positivity were the norm – that is the Scotland that I want my daughter to grow up in.

Any group dynamic holds itself back by becoming insular and fearful – such a dynamic is lethal for people coming into it because they can never ‘join’ – this quickly becomes a deadly spiral - inward-looking, disempowerment and consequently lack of opportunity and growth. This is the hardest possible place from which to contemplate change. But change is what we need, we need to turn around hold hands with the person next to us and face the outside.
In order to grow, I believe it would be useful to be able to create a definition of being ‘scottish’ that is inclusive rather than exclusive – here is one wee suggestion about how help that idea forward:

SCOTTISH CITIZEN: any Accent
Being ‘scottish’ is something you are through no conscious action of your own – but being a Scottish Citizen is something that you must make a positive choice to become. By choosing to be a Scottish Citizen you are choosing to aligne your own future with that of your fellow citizens – it tells others that you believe in the potential of this country and will do your part in making it the best place it can be. I have added :different accents because I think it is important that we build from a place of equality and to do that we need to honour the commitment of others by celebrating our diversity rather than being afraid of it.

The vision here is:
Scotland as a nation made up of different people
rather than:
Scotland as a nationality

I’m going to try wearing this badge and see what the reaction is – it seems more useful right now than wearing a Saltire, a YES badge or even a Better Together one. I’m thinking that every accent in Scotland is different – so everyone can wear one if they want to.....gimme a shout if you want one too

Scottish Citizen : any Accent

If you have any ideas suggestions whatever - give me a shout.... studio@mattbaker.org.uk

* In case anyone is interested - my top three things for a better future for Scotland would be:

1. Increased Local Democracy (I don't mean more of the same....rather something akin to the Swiss system with tiers of local citizen panels before you get to Town/regional councils)
2. A Land Tax to replace Income Tax
3. A Nordic style welfare system...ie one that is a supportive system for families and child care 

Creative Economic Miracles and Place Governance = big thinking

Might just be me I guess, but there does seem to be something in the air at the moment about the big questions……I suppose the announcement of the referendum date could be the cause or maybe the ongoing Creative Scotland Open Sessions or even the Fresh Start project closer to home.

Being trapped inside by the snow yesterday meant I had some time to follow up some of the things people were talking about on the internet and two articles/ideas grabbed me in particular……if fact, my cabin-fevered brain started making too many connections and before I knew it a hybrid of these sources was making very sound sense for all of the 3 situations above:

Lately at The Stove we have been thinking a lot about governance, participation and collective responsibility – so I was (not typically!!) drawn to something at the Projects for Public Spaces (US) website about a concept they call Place Governance (below are extracts from the article – read the whole thing here):

In Place Governance, officials endeavor to draw more people into the civic decision-making process. When dealing with a dysfunctional street, for instance, answers aren’t only sought from transportation engineers—they’re sought from merchants who own businesses along the street, non-profit organizations working in the surrounding community, teachers and administrators at the school where buses queue, etc. The fundamental actors in a Place Governance structure are not official agencies that deal with specific slices of the pie, but the people who use the area in question and are most intimately acquainted with its challenges. 

The engagement of citizens from all walks of life is central to Place Governance, and while a great deal of Placemaking work comes from grassroots activity, we need more change agents working within existing frameworks to pull people in. As the Knight Foundation’s Soul of the Community Study has shown for several years running, “soft” aspects like social offerings, openness, and aesthetics are key to creating the attachment to place that leads to economic development and community cohesion.

Katherine Loflin, who served as the lead consultant for Knight on the study - “By the third year of Soul we decided to start testing different variables to see whether civic engagement has to work with something else to inspire attachment. We found that one thing that does seem to matter is one’s feeling of self-efficacy. You need civic engagement plus the belief that you can make a difference in order for it to create greater attachment. We can’t just provide civic engagement opportunities, we also have to create a culture of success around engagement if we want it to translate to feelings of greater attachment to a place.”

Big Things on the Beach - Portobello, Edinburgh

Matt Leighninger, the director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium (a Community Matters partner) echoes this need when talking about his own work in engaging communities. “The shortcoming of [a lot of community dialog] work,” he says, “is that it is too often set up to address a particular issue, and then once it’s over, it’s over. You would think that people having an experience like that would lead them to seek out opportunities to do it again on other issues, but that often doesn’t happen. Unless there’s a social circle or ecosystem that encourages them and honors their contributions, it’s not likely that they’re going to stay involved.”

Creating that support system is what Place Governance is all about. In addition to their capacity for creating a sense of attachment to place, great public destinations, through the interactive way in which they are developed and managed, challenge people to think more broadly about what it means to be a citizen. Place Governance relies on the Placemaking process to structure the discussion about how shared spaces should be used in a way that helps people to understand how their own specific knowledge can benefit their community more broadly. “We can set up the conversation, and help move things along,” Kent says, “but once the community’s got it, they’re golden. Just setting the process up for them to perform—that’s what Placemaking is.”

The second source I was taken with was an article about the recovery of Iceland after the catastrophic financial meltdown there – I was aware that the country was making a remarkable recovery and had been interested in their citizen assembly and constitution model…..I had also heard how NOT rescuing the banks had actually meant that a lot of talented and creative people who had worked for the banks were now working in different ways in their economy….so I was then further intrigued to read about how the creative industries were fundamental to the turnaround in Iceland….(again extracts only…the full article is here)

Iceland escaped the grip of austerity and has turned Icelandic culture into the country’s second largest contributor to GDP, with an impact of around €1bn per year. Unemployment is at 5.7 per cent, growth at 3 per cent – and the island is alive to the sound of music and movie shoots.

If the financial collapse Iceland went through in 2008 is viewed as a laboratory of questions and answers about the current crisis, taking notes on some of the solutions the Icelanders have come up with might be wise.
Unlike in southern Europe, where cuts and tax increases have hit on the culture sector in particular, since 2008 this country of 320,000 inhabitants, which is the size of Portugal, has thrown itself into the creative industries sector. The economic impact of that activity (€1bn) is double that of agriculture today and ranks just under the island’s top industry, fishing – the legendary export machine that ships cod (and other seafood) to the continent.

All thanks, in part, to Iceland’s petite 37-year-old culture minister who has dug her heels in over the last four years and refused to go away when the government asked her, “Why should we give money to artists?” Sticking to her guns, she has converted the arts into the poster child of the island’s recent economic success.

The government cut back on spending, thinned out ministries and cut overheads. But they boosted contributions to independent cultural projects. It was a highly adept and flexible blend of public-private involvement, but without the state ever stepping back from its managing role in culture and education.

Sonar Music Festival

There also remains the issue of whether this model can be exported to countries such as Spain or Italy, whose populations are 150 times greater – and so too are the economic problems. Magnason thinks it can. “It can be applied to most places. The problem in Europe, especially in Italy and Spain, is all these young people who do nothing or who are in that strange limbo where neither the government nor the industry are defining what they should do. And that keeps them from fully tapping into their creativity.” Perhaps it’s a question of hitting bottom.

So there you have it…..invest more in culture to get people more involved in the places they live and the whole thing multiplies…..if we get folk actively involved in making their lives better we might even get a quality discussion about the country we want to live in and how best to achieve that….you never know.

Environmental Art Festival Scotland

I'm honoured to announce that I am co-curating the inaugural Environmental Art Festival Scotland. I'm representing The Stove on the project and lucky to be working with Jan Hogarth for Wide-Open, Leah Black for Spring Fling and Tonia Lu is our project assistant.

This first EAFS is part of Year of Natural Scotland and if it is successful we hope that it will become a Biannual event in SouthWest Scotland

EAFS has the themes of Energy and Land, it runs from July to end October and aims to host a regionwide conversation about issues connected to the 'culture of living with the land'.

We have an Open Call for commissions, ideas, venues, groups and individuals who would like to be part of the festival - details here

A healthy life and death cycle at eca

Last week I had a life enhancing few days at the Edinburgh College of Art (eca) - I was asked by my good friend Rachel Simmonds to help out with tutoring an Innovation Week project....it was a delightfully easy gig - Rachel had done all the graft of thinking up the idea and getting the materials, students and risk assessments together - all I had to do was join in.

Innovation Week is a week for special one-off projects that involve the collaboration of students across different disciplines. Rachel's project involved students from Animation, Performance Costume, Interior Design, Graphic Design, Fashion, Product Design, Jewellry and Illustration.

These were first year students, across the different disciplines they did not know each other....they were put in teams with no two students from any one discipline.

The project was called the Risk Wall - students attended a series of talks about boundaries, barriers, walls and subversive strategies - they then set out to explore Edinburgh's Flodden Wall - built in the 16th Century to defend the city against English invasion.

Amed with this research and their creativity they were asked to construct a series of customised cardboard boxes that could be built into a new Risk Wall in the eca Sculpture Court at the end of the workshop. Students were asked to think about risks that they, society and the Edinburgh might face today and how a 'wall' might manage these.

The pallet of flatpacked cardboard boxes that were the materials for the Risk Wall

Students under the RiskWall - eca Sculpture Court

Complete Risk Wall and students spelling words for the timelapse camera

An Opening for the whole college

Joyful destruction #1

Joyful destruction #2

Thats it....there is no more

For me this project demonstrated everything that is wonderful about creativity.......collaboration, conceptual thinking, hands-on making and improvisation, a coming together of people and ideas, a reflection, frenzied madness, clearing away and recycling.

In other words a cycle of birth, life and death - all carried out cleanly, creatively and in celebration of life. 

There is a lot of talk at the moment of the role of the creativity in society and the part it could play in helping society to be more healthy in the widest sense of the word.....there is also talk of different forms of 'engagement' and in particular of sharing of 'process' rather than 'product' (eg - here).........The Risk Wall, for me, was an example of a creativity in action which gave a possible clue for how creativity could be part of a wider participative process for wellbeing across our society.

TIMELAPSE VIDEO OF THE RISK WALL - HERE ......by Neil Kempsell

Many thanks to Rachel Simmonds, Ed Hollis and all the students of Year 1 Design School for having me over to play

Round 1: Pressed Pants an a Hair Shirt

6 design proposals for an overhaul of Glasgow’s George Square have gone on public display….but (hopefully) this is just the first coy glance in a seduction full of risk and passion.

Lets get this straight from the get go – I fucking love Glasgow (with apologies to mum and partner who are both polite Embra folk). I love its ballsiness, I love its loudness and I love the fact that it has dragged itself mewling and puking into the world by taking jaw-droppingly audacious planning decisions……drive a motorway through the centre of town? Get it done. 

M8 construction Charring Cross 1971

By Anthony Stewart and Archie Birt

My Glasgow is first and foremost commercial  – global shopwindow, place of exchange, city of ideas and raging passions…all furcoat and nae knickers – a place that has built an enviable career as a festival city….festivals – the ultimate furcoat and nae knickers experience….transform yourself completely, hold it together for as long as it takes, recycle what you can, prepare for the next opportunity, grab it with both hauns.

I was genuinely excited when I heard about the George Square re-design idea…another gallous re-invention…people like Neil Baxter, David Harding and Simon Smith involved (3 generations of Glasgow creativity – people with Glasgow in their souls) – BRING IT ON!

below:Queen Elizabeth II examines design proposals for the Gorbals in early 1960s - above: same project demolished 1991

Looking at the design proposals I think we need to be realistic about what we are looking at - these designs appear like job applications to me, like they have been made by ticking off the requirements of the brief and taking politically correct soundings from public comments about ‘the statues’ etc. When designers know there is to be a public consultation they throw in a few populist moves….hopefully these are strategic designs pitched at getting to the next stage whilst keeping the fireworks dry.

George Wyllie - proposal sketch for 'Straw Locomotive' 1990

These first salvoes are not confident and gutsy design of the sort Glasgow demands and deserves – the treatment of the ‘the statues’ is a case in point…..many of the designs retain the statues but re-contextualise them eg under a slightly funky pavilion or group them around a water feature. All this does is underline that these are not remarkable artworks – they are mostly pretty standard Victorian fare – Design Option 3 attempts a new formal layout of the statues – this is a bizarre and revealing move. What these ideas serve to underline is a lack of confidence in contemporary practice. How much better could our new George Square be with work from some of our internationally acclaimed contemporary Scottish Artists?? We need a statement of Glasgow NOW – one that still has confidence and momentum…not one that is hesitant and covering all the bases ‘in case’ – make a call and then back it all the way! Like New York, Glasgow only lives through re-invention – heritage is just part of the toolkit – not the whole gameplan.

The Walter Scott column is a nettle that must be grasped also.... George Square works best as a setting for the awesomely gallus City Chambers and the truly moving Cenotaph……the Scott Column only really has any urban value in relation to Hanover St….it actually detracts from the spatial quality of the square in relation to the City Chambers. Either remove it altogether or creatively adapt it as an accessible viewing platform or the most exclusive (and smallest) hotel in town……how much of the proposed £15million pound budget will be spent shifting this vast structure 30 yards to the North?
How much better to use this opportunity to make a new story in Glaswegian lore by re-siting Walter and his column - making a much needed new people's place somewhere else in the city.

Walter Scott monument in George Square

Proposal by artist Tatzu Nishi to create a hotel room around the column and statue of Earl Grey in Newcastle (curated by LocusPlus)

So what to do? I'm sure all of the shortlisted designers are excellent candidates, any could be the right team (apart from possibly the tartan paving design – we are beyond irony, we are gallus). Maybe the project steering group could now talk to all of the shortlist again and look hard into the underlying thinking and sensitivities of the proposals – try and fathom out which team best ‘gets Glasgow’….pick this team on that basis (and that basis alone) and then encourage them (as only Weegies can) to be bold and brave and give us a city square that sets pulses racing and breaks all the rules – might be a good idea to drop a contemporary artist into the second stage design mix…..let a Nathan Coley loose, add a bit of Richard Wright, sprinkle some Karla Black or a even a dash of Susan Phillipsz?
We might then enter a phase where we have commissioned a team that is working for the city - and part of their/the steering group/our ...JOB is to keep a channel of communication alive with the city about how the thing is progressing.

Nathan Coley 'There Will Be No Miracles Here'

I'm Looking for an Assistant....

I am looking for someone who has a range of practical skills, confidence, enthusiasm, is a good communicator and a fast learner.

I have a diverse range of socially-engaged public art projects committed for 2013 – in the past I have always worked with assistants on individual projects, I’m now looking for someone to support the entire spread of my practice. The opportunity will suit someone who is serious about building a professional career in the arts – particularly in sculpture and/or socially-engaged practice.

Reconvening Govan Parliament (left), Govan Waymarkers (right)

I am proposing an initial period of 6 months at a rate of £1000 per month (11 days per month approximating to 2-3 days per week). This will be on a self-employed basis and you will be responsible for your own tax etc.

Erratic - mobile sculpture in remote landscape SouthWest Scotland

 

Skills that will be useful in the role (I not expecting anyone to be experienced in all of these!):

·       good communication skills – face to face, phone, email, social-media etc 

·       practical making skills

·       diary keeping and project administration

·       project monitoring and working as part of different project teams

·       presentation and workshop facilitation

·       social media and administrating project blogs

·       ability to work independently in word processing, spreadsheets, email, internet  
  research etc – (I use Apple with Microsoft Office)

·       driving Licence

·       graphic design (digital and physical)

·       passion for the arts

·       interest in places, history, processes of change, identity and people

My studio is 6 miles north of Dumfries, I am committed to quality and growth of the arts scene in SouthWest Scotland and will give preference to candidates who are/will be based in the area.

Philosophers Salon - Inverness (left), Scene Shifter - detail (right)

 Further information on my practice can be found at:

·       www.mattbaker.org.uk(past projects….currently being updated)

·       http://sacrificialmaterials.blogspot.co.uk/ (my blog – also has links to other projects I am involved in)

Application process

·       LETTER– explaining: why are interested in the opportunity, what relevant experience you have and what you believe you could contribute.

·       EXAMPLES of relevant experience…. could include images of your own artwork, links/descriptions of projects you have worked on etc

·       CV

All material to be submitted electronically (documents in PDF or Word format, images as jpegs or PDF) – total file size of submissions should be maximum 6MB

Sent to studio@mattbaker.org.uk by 1^st February 2013…interviews will be held after that and I am looking for someone to start work by mid/end February.

Three Virtues (left), Re-Imagining the Centre (projection by Dan Norton - right) - both Inverness

I look forward to hearing from you

All best wishes

Matt