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EXCHANGE exhibition, the university of plymouth, nov '09 — jan '10

(11/09 - 01/10) Prints from the on-going You Are Your Own Timekeeper enquiry are being exhibited at the University of Plymouth as part of 'EXCHANGE:', a research exchange on approaches and responses to 'landscape' between the University of Plymouth (LAND/SEA research group) and the University of Northampton.

The images document the former chelsea workshops in two states: emptiness (left, middle) and at a hiatus in its renovation by the al-iman society (right). A1 Single colour digital prints in archive inks were chosen over some new plan-copy prints that didn't reproduce consistently enough for the three to work as a sequence... I'm now building quite a collection of rolled A1 plan-copies from this work, that I hope will one day see the light of day.

Commentary: "YOU ARE YOUR OWN TIMEKEEPER considers the landscape of Northampton as a construct, exploring ‘place identity’ of the town through the interactions between a nineteenth-century boot and shoe factory and its inhabitants (or lack of). The activities and processes that have taken place, or are planned to take place within the space, are seen as intrinsic in etching and moulding the landscape of Northampton, with the inquiry placing the building at the meta-geographical centre of the town – a location of activity or non-activity metaphorically representing Northampton through three key phases in its use. First, as a place of industry (1896, as boot and shoe factory manufacturing within a worldwide market). Second, as a place of emptiness and degradation (approx 2000, as vacant production space following the movement of industry away from the factory and part-conversion into ‘luxury’ apartments). Third, and currently, as a place for immigrant populations; a community centre for the Al-Iman Society of Northamptonshire, a space for meeting and education currently in appeal against recent council rejection following opposition from local residents and far-right political groups.

The work is open-ended with no fixed outcome or date for completion: as well as an inquiry in itself, the building is treated as a test-bed – a space for developing methodologies and processes using text, images and sounds for describing and mapping places and spaces. The images displayed are works in progress exploring various methods of dissemination (photographic compositions; book; text), recording the building in it’s empty state alongside current renovation by members of the Al-Iman Society (October 2009), who wait in anticipation of council approval and public acceptance of their contribution to the town and its inhabitants."