themes

Here is a visual summary of the integral project themes.

cultural bypass

This print by Phil Disley describes an important theme in Garston. The construction of the A561 “Garston bypass” effectively took the life out of the heart of the village, and contributed to the town’s demise. The route is Liverpool’s main gateway to the south. Traffic that once went through the village high street now bypasses [...]

going superlambbananas

Here are some Superlambbananas I did for the “go superlambbananas” public art event. Including “SuperLambPyjama”, “Supertimbernana”, “SuperRedBanana”, “Superlambbanana in Pyjamas” and a few Zebras and Tigers and things thrown in.

making and faking

Meanwhile in Liverpool’s Kensington… (location of one of the other ‘Peoples Pavilions’) there are more abandoned houses. However these abandoned houses happen to be on the main gateway route into Liverpool from the M62. So since thousands of tourists will be driving past them to visit the European Capital of Culture in 2008, they had [...]

take it to the pubs

Last night the SuperWindowTable made it’s debut in the Wellington Pub in Garston. The ‘provisional construction’ brought together some important themes in my project [art, tables, pubs, community engagement, beermats]. It was the feature at an “Anything – Special Edition” night organised by Mike Carney. Mike had done some posters and publicity for the event, [...]

dignitaries tour the embassy

This afternoon Alex showed a group of us around the old school building that’s going to be used as the ‘Garston Embassy’ as part of the Biennial’s Peoples’ Pavilions Project. We were joined by local MP Maria Eagle, as well as potential investors from South Liverpool housing association, and other locals who are involved.

The building [...]

fog

On Sunday a thick fog descended on Garston village. So I went and took some photos of it. More here.

gathering

Yesterday afternoon, Garston’s bastion of the avant-garde Alex Corina phoned me and kindly invited me to an evening sioree at View Two art gallery on Liverpool’s famous Matthew Street. The ‘independent’ gallery is owned by architect Ken Martin, who’s also the architect working on the Artistic Republic of Garston’s Embassy building. It was a good [...]

take it to the streets

This Sunday the “Super Window Table” was taken to the streets. It went to meet the “Super Lamb Banana” in the city centre, as well as gracing the mean streets of Garston Village. It was a kind of guerilla “public art” installation. I was hoping the “street furniture” might provoke a bit of banter with [...]

spaces for deliberation

Here the “Super Window Table” is shown in context on the streets of Garston, to indicate possible sites for architectural intervention.

super window table

Exploring the interdependence/independence relationship of towns like Nowa Huta, Sheffield, and Garston, Super Window Table is an example of four identical components that work interdependently, to form an independent ‘reciprocal frame’ structure. Each component supports, and is supported by each other. Like the ‘housing’ and the ‘industry’, the components are useless on their own, but [...]

super lamb banana

Commissioned for the Art Transpennine Exhibition of 1998, Taro Chiezo’s Super Lamb Banana is one of the most instantly recognisable and well loved symbols of the City of Liverpool.
Super Lamb Banana represents Garston and global interdependence, by referencing the port’s history of importing bananas and exporting lambs. (In post-war Britain most of the country’s bananas [...]

the artistic republic of garston

The next step for the ‘Cultural Village’ campaign sees Garston “staking its claim for artistic independence” by declaring itself an ‘artistic republic’… with “all the fun of a revolution, but without the violence”.
The area is to receive a major art installation by artist Michael Trainor that will see a disused school in Wellington Street transformed [...]

public art in garston

The ‘Winter Lights Project’ has run for two successive years. In the first year artist Ron Haselden invited pupils from schools to make a drawing on the subject of ‘Animal’ in 3 areas of Liverpool. Three of the resulting Animal drawings were transformed into large scale, freestanding line drawings in neon light and installed in [...]

sheffield’s kelham island

Kelham Island is a riverside area of Sheffield, where the steel industries were traditionally located. Some still remain, though many buildings are now abandoned and boarded up, as in Garston.
Many other parallels exist, though in terms of regeneration it is a few steps ahead. It’s at a point of transition, and is currently a strange [...]

what do people do all day?

in Garston they stay in their pyjamas, even when they go outside…

Liverpool was famous in the 1980s for pioneering the tracksuit/shellsuit leisurewear fashion, now mainstream with many working class communities all over the UK. Since the late 90’s Liverpool has been pioneering a new fashion for wearing pyjamas and slippers in the street. It is [...]

material vs chav

Garston is being seen increasingly as an opportunity for regeneration and investment by housing developers. Recently many of the deserted boarded-up houses have been demolished, and developers have started to build more standard low-quality houses to replace them.
The local residents recognise the futility of this, commenting that -like the 1970s low quality housing that was [...]

garston: post-industrial ghost-town

Similarly to Sheffield and Nowa Huta, Garston has suffered from the decline of industry. The docks still handle a high volume of trade, but due to the modern mechanisation of the process, fewer locals are employed, and so the docks cannot sustain the village. The interdependent relationship between the docks and the village is hence [...]

garston: a port and a village

Garston is a town that grew because of it’s docks. It’s located in south Liverpool, separate from the city’s other docks, which are all north of the city centre. Garston existed as a village in intself, long before being caught up in Liverpool’s suburban sprawl. Therefore it has always had a very strong local identity, [...]