Conduct a survey into the leisure pursuits of the great British public, and you will find that shopping tops the list of favoured hobbies.
This is no great surprise. Towns and cites across the UK have spent the past 25 years building great temples to shopping in the form of concrete shopping malls and out-of-town superstores. But while the commercial world has been quick to take advantage of the public?s desire to spend, arts professionals often regard ?commercialism? as a dirty word. We?re happy to make art available for people to look at, but helping them to take it home is quite a different matter. Tentative steps in that direction have been taken, in particular with the interest free art loan schemes launched by a number of the regional arts boards. But the concept of an arts megastore like the Biscuit Factory (p1), takes the whole idea of selling contemporary art a major and exciting step further forward. The huge gallery spaces have been specifically designed to overcome the well-documented psychological barriers associated with contemporary art, and with prices of the work starting at around £20, customers will have every opportunity to scratch an overwhelming itch to buy. No doubt art purists will hate it, and bemoan the Biscuit Factory for ?dumbing down? in the same way that classical music aficionados react to Classic FM. But no doubt the public will love it, and who knows how many of them, following a visit there, will subsequently pluck up their courage for a first visit just down the road at The Baltic.
Published: 18-11-2002