Artist's Projects.
James Alexander, ARTFLY, Alex Blackmore, Shaun Blezard, Ellie Chaney, John Hall.
Alongside our Play One Of Your Own Show, a group of locally based artists were commissioned to respond to the exhibition content and to the comments and responses of our audiences. We looked at the relationships between the material and the museum collection; at the personal significance 0f the material to our audiences, at its materiality ,its persistence, its varying stability and the analogies that could be made with memory. We looked at the role of pop culture in the establishing of a wider cultural identity, its place alongside other industries, the importance of accesible public spaces in which it can thrive, its ability to inspire specific associations around site and place, and the way those associations are transmitted across generations. And, we looked at the next generation, and the way they relate to those spaces, and how they might choose to use and occupy them.
Much of the work, including the editions and multiples, was produced using methods that reflected the hand-made nature of the artifacts in the exhibition.
Alex Blackmore produced three editions of sculpted figures representing youth cults of late 2othc Barrow, Packaged as Museum Souvenirs, with a period-specific graffittied display wall and 3 Badges of Barrow Street Signs associated with Key Venues of the era.
As Aoire Shaun Blezard produced a cassette edition of four original compositions,. a 45rpm lathecut single and several performances drawing on sampled sounds from Barrow scene demo tapes and audience recordings.
ARTFLY produced the Dock-Ola Juke digital jukebox, acting as a scrapbook of Barrow vinyl releases, demo tapes, audience recordings and interviews.
James Alexander and John Hall produced Song Of David, a claymation piece with music about the analogous relationship between tape and memory,
Ellie Chaney worked with images supplied by Afghan asylum seekers and Furness Refugee support to produce an animation flipbook of a social dance that the Afghan lads brought with them.
Lead Artist and Project Manager John Hall produced
4 editions of the Flypaper zine on subjects arising from the project, including an issue serving as a performance programme and others on found home-made record sleeves and local fanzines from the 80s in several northern towns;
A schools animation project around dance and statuary in public places, ("Thanks so much for today, the children loved every minute....Thanks again for all your work with the children, we have absolutely loved having you in & would definitely be up for working together again in the future!")
A 45rpm lathecut single of music evoking a shared audio reference library of tv themes, advert jingles and idents,
A creative writing project involving writer Geoff Cox; an oral history archive involving musicians, audiences and the Barrow scene's movers and shakers over 30 years;
2 30 minute audio montages for the Radiophrenia Broadcast Arts Festival;
2 Silkscreen editions of T shirts and record shop bags,
3 Radio spots for Furness Tradition Festival on the process of recording traditional music in the 1930s. with Historian Sean Goddard and Musician and Festival Director Gordon Jones.
REVERB SAMPLER (right, below) a 30 minute video montage drawing on common themes arising from each artists practice and including 6 pieces of original music;
Two live performances,
"This Record Says Everything" an illustrated book with text serving as a personal account of the projects findings as well as an overview and catalogue.
Other areas of the project provided support for The Sistahood, a Barrow based women's music and arts project and the Barrow Womens Community Matters organisation, and collaborations with Furness Refigee Support.
Our 45 mastering was done by Seahouse Studios of Barrow.
Further audio visual work and documentation was produced by
John Rennie and Lawrence Campbell.
Comment sample..
You've caught Barrow.
Exceeded all my expectations
could see how much you’ve put your heart and soul into the work . Always true to your roots - good on ya lad xxx
Congratulations on such a successful event and fab project John! It was really inspiring
The "This Record Says Everything" book is superb on all fronts - it looks great, gorgeous images, wonderful incisive writing, totally compelling and not at all up itself.
