A scheme to encourage the inclusion of artists within architectural project design teams emphasises collaboration and an equal status for the artist among the architects and structural engineers. Lizzie Tulip outlines the scheme and describes projects not just involving visual artists but writers too.
Encouraging architects and engineers to work with artists is part of my role as Project Co-ordinator of the Art for Architecture scheme. Since its conception 12 years ago, the scheme, based at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), has been the main force pushing collaborative practice between artists and other design disciplines and to date has funded over 100 collaborative partnerships across the UK. By giving grants to artists to work with architects, engineers, landscape architects and other design professions, we look to highlight projects of excellence. Grants range from £2,000 to £15,000 and are given directly to artists to enable them to be included in the design phase of a project.
As the many people who have benefited from the scheme will tell you, what makes the scheme unique is the emphasis it puts on the creative process and the nurturing of ideas. In a climate of short-termism and pressurised time frames, Art for Architecture is seen as a breath of fresh air, giving time and space for design teams to explore ideas without the pressure of deadlines and statistics.
Art for Architecture?s financial involvement is not enormous in relation to the overall budget of projects; often it?s a tiny percentage. This is clear to see in the Royal Court Theatre project in London. Artist Antoni Malinowski was given a grant of £6,000 to work with Steve Tompkins from Howarth Tompkins Architects. Antoni worked with Steve intensively, influencing every stage of its refurbishment. The Art for Architecture grant was a fraction of the theatre?s multimillion pound budget, but was central in making the relationship possible.
Working partnerships
A crucial part of the process is the way that the artist and architect get together. Like any relationship, success depends on two people having respect for each other and an openness to have someone challenge their ideas. Looking into the motives behind a large percentage of enquiries to the scheme shows that more often than not what they?re talking about is getting an artist to add the finishing touches to a completed design such as lighting, door handles, paintings or sculpture commissions. But artists are not always interested in making something aesthetically beautiful in a straightforward sense, and can contribute so much more to the process beyond the more obvious means. This is often risky in the context of funding systems, which is why the Art for Architecture scheme can be crucial by giving that leap of faith to a project. By inviting an artist at the very beginning of the design process, it ensures that their ideas can be fully integrated into the design.
In 2000 Art for Architecture gave a grant to the writer Paul Shepheard and visual artist Martin Richman to work with landscape architects Gross Max on the design of a landscape scheme for Mabley Green in Hackney, East London. Here the concept of a collaborative design team developed as a means of maximising the creative potential of the project. A key element in the concept was to develop opportunities for local people to engage in the design process. Paul Shepheard held a six-week residency with two primary schools, based at either end of the site, with the aim of understanding their ideas and desires about the environment. He later produced a series of poems which reflected their perceptions and thoughts for the site in a moving and memorable way. He produced a second piece of writing which explored the qualities of different landscape types and speculated with the design team on the possibilities of the site. All design professionals were willing to communicate their ideas freely with each other and the public. Paul Shepheard said: ?I think the outcome of collaborative events can?t be predicted. It has to be taken on for its own sake. I?ve realised the power of moments ? exactly when things are said, and how precisely interventions are made, makes a lot of difference. It?s the dynamics of a human relationship, but it?s an unexpected discovery.?
Also in 2000, the Wilberforce Institute in Hull received a grant for the Turner Prize-winning artist, Vong Phaophanit, to work with Shepheard Esptein Hunter to create an identity for the Institute, which is to be situated within the University of Hull. The Institute will be a research, teaching and communication centre of social justice issues, so accessibility and inclusivity are central to this project. Together, the architect and artist will develop a joint design philosophy to create a building with transparent qualities, one which they hope will present an ?inviting face? which lacks any sign of hierarchy, and promotes social and academic exchange within the building.
Processes and people
These are two good examples of where collaboration is more than just about producing an end-product and is about processes and people. Artist Nathan Coley, reflecting on his experience of collaboration, following the completion of a project with Neil Gillespie from Reiach and Hall Architects for the Stills Gallery in Edinburgh, said: ?Collaboration is a situation from which to reflect the manner of one?s process and from which to renegotiate a position. In collaborative projects you are not necessarily being asked to look at a different landscape, but perhaps to look at it from a different vantage point. At the very best collaboration can be a sail into uncharted waters: at its very least an opportunity to make new friends.?
Lizzie Tulip is Project Co-ordinator of RSA Art for Architecture. t: 020 7451 6871; e: lizzie.tulip@rsa.org.uk
To receive a grant from Art for Architecture the artist and architect putting forward the proposal must demonstrate a shared interest in the project plus a commitment to the process of collaboration and the exchange of ideas. Projects can be building or landscape-based, temporary or permanent. Applications are assessed three times a year by a panel of advisors. For further information contact Lizzie Tulip.
Advice online
Public Art South West (PASW) is working closely with architects in the development of the Strategy for Architecture and the Built Environment in the South West and has formed working partnerships with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA. The advice section of its website http://www.publicartonline.org.uk presents an architect?s view of what needs to be considered when collaborating with an artist.
The website also includes several detailed case studies of projects involving artists and architects. These include Richard Wilson?s ?Over Easy? for the Arc in Stockton-on-Tees, commissions by various craftspeople for the refurbishment of Art.tm in Inverness, a solid waste recycling centre in the US and a prison in the Netherlands. For more information contact Maggie Bolt, Director of Public Art South West. t: 01392 218188; e: maggie.bolt@swa.co.uk