Tuesday, 14 June 2016


14/06/16
I looked at two collective groups, Assemble studio and Foreground. Assemble Studio does art based community projects and won the 2015 turner prize for their work. Foreground is based in Frome, Somerset. They commission temporary and permanent artworks and do interesting art projects in Somerset. Below I have put the about section of both of their websites which has a bit of information about them and what they do.



Spirit of Play

The Spirit of Play project that Assemble studio runs
 is a current collaborative research project that revolves around the development of a new play offer at National Trust Bristol’s SSSI historical woodland, Leigh Woods.
Assemble are working closely with the National Trust’s ecology and engagement rangers, and they have run three active, on site research weekends led by children,  observing and learning from the way children use the woods and how their activity affects the delicate ecology. Assemble states "Spirit of Play aims to uncover and champion the existing playful opportunities within the NT’s Leigh Wood". This project is interesting in that it places the focus more on the children's contribution and actions rather than a more structured project teaching the children something. It presents a nice way to get young people engaged with the community by letting their actions be the main focus and by connecting them to a local area, in this case the woods. I think this is a clever way to do research and think that the format of the project is quite effective. This project's principles could be applied to ours by having the Crescent primary school children choose and create their own tools by going outside and using found objects to make artwork, then they would be starting their own exploration of art and its potential. We could also do something similar by giving them a wide variety of materials and seeing which ones they like the most and why. One thing that could be changed from this project is the presentation, the spirit of play project was meant to be about exploring and research however our project is focused more on workshop learning and skills based activities, which means it might not be best to do too many activities. We could focus on one or two instead to make it more focused which would be a bit different to the spirit of play. 


























Intervention/Decoration 
This community project by foreground brought together a group of internationally acclaimed and also up and coming artists to focus on the topic of "intervention/decoration" and encouraged them to look at the social and physical elements of the market town Frome in Somerset where Foreground is based. An exhibition for project was held in many different areas around the town, with artwork inspired by the social, industrial and architectural aspects transforming neglected buildings, cultural venues and bringing life to public spaces. Foreground describes the concept behind the project in depth on their website stating:
"The decorative has, for many, become pejorative when applied to visual art, whilst the term intervention has maintained a radical rhetoric, suggesting unsanctioned activity and ruptures in the norm, despite it’s vulnerability to cliché. Instead of maintaining this polarity, Intervention/Decoration presented new commissions by artists whose works all complicate the distinction between what can be considered an intervention in public space and what might be considered a gesture of decoration or ornamentation."
I found this project very creative in the way it revitalised Frome, placing art directly onto buildings in a way that contrasted massively yet was a striking way to give life to old buildings without simply knocking them down and replacing them with new ones. The decorative pattern itself is quite traditional, which makes it appear to blend in really well with its surroundings. I think this is particularly effective as it integrates art into the community in a way that initially seems quite jarring but actually fits in nicely with the surrounding area. This approach leaves a lasting impact for the community as they get to see how to creatively enrich their town and also keep a piece of the project with them. Leaving some kind of legacy in our community project would be a great way to create a lasting impact and inspire the primary school to continue with art projects like these, as well as leave a reminder of what the students have achieved and understood through our workshops. To do this we could make a physical piece of work that the school could keep and hang up or make an educational pack so that the school could recreate the workshops when we're gone.














These are a few notes I made from looking at some of the projects Assemble Studio and Foreground.

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