The Zen Bruiser

Artist curator Gavin Wade @eprjcts - Director of Eastside Projects the artist led gallery space in Birmingham, UK. Here he is inside Pleasure Island, an artwork by Heather and Ivan Morrison, that has become the nerve centre of Eastside.

Gavin Wade - Artist Curator Eastside Projects at The Bath Inn, Nottingham on Flickr.

WE ARE THE SPLACISTS

Posted by theArchtist on January 20, 2012 in BLOG · 0 Comments

Splacism is a contemporary mode of practice, proposed by Paul Conneally. Hannah Nicklin and Nikki Pugh are two artists that have adopted this new practice by defining a new set of ideologies, check out there manifesto. Following on from the Situationist International movement, that understood the city in fragments and emotions.

On a cold December night without knowing what to expect. I attended the event titled Dust, to learn about the Splacist practice. As a group we were advised to think about space, place and splice – wine was on hand to help things along! This is my story of the night.

Arriving at Made Office in the Jewellery Quarter, we were each given a piece of paper showing a map of the area (a little less crumpled than the one below).  It was intended for us to walk a route to Vyse Street car park, taking in the
surroundings and in particular the things we don’t normally look for. For instance the “texture of the metal against your fingers when you pressed the button on that pedestrian crossing”.

Walking through the Jewellery Quarter was pleasent, admiring a hidden gem that rarely anyone gets too see when visiting Birmingham. However, my habit (looking at architecture for too long) kicked in and gave me the sense that I had failed this part of evening already! We arrived at the top of multi-storey car park where we met with wind, rain and white wine, whilst Nikki talked about the next part of the evening.

In the open

Chatting and pondering with people about the things to follow, we were grouped up in pairs to start the first task. Taken over to Hannah’s car, we were given a GPS type device, interpreted as a ‘dust ball’ (more on that later). Interestingly, when asked to walk a route we were instructed to direct the device at particular points on the skyline (office block, apartment) in order to ‘pick up’ pre-recorded messages of individuals in the area. This was as if you had
amazing hearing, being able to listen in on conversations and events going on in the city that you would not normally hear or see. Sort of like what Superman can do! This creative exercise helped to portray places – fragments of the city that we don’t normally encounter.

The time had come when the rain was too heavy for us to stay in the open. We began our descent down to level 3 where we were sheltered from the rain but never too far from the wind! Hannah gave us a talk about their artistic response to the Splacist Manifesto. This involved us going around the car park and picking up dust motes (balls of plaster) that reflect fragments of the city: memories;secrets; moments lost; dropped; found; discovered and gifted.

Undercover

Walking around the car park to find dust motes? It was interesting the way in which we interacted with the surroundings. We realised that our intentions have an effect on how we use and view an area: how we inhabit a space and interact with the architecture. For me the night was a total success, Pugh and Nicklin made us really question how we exist within a space, and in turn how we define space.  In their words:

“We are everything that a city is, that cannot be reduced to a map or a single path through a place”.

If you want to learn more about this practice and get a deeper insight into how it’s done make sure you the artists websites:

npugh.co.uk/tag/dust/

 hannahnicklin.com/tag/splacist

‘Dust ball’

Eastside Projects
Birmingham

Architects talk about their time at the Splacist Training Camp at MADE in Birmingham Novemeber 2011.

Splacism is a contemporary mode of practice proposed by Paul Conneally. Hannah Nicklin and Nikki Pugh define a new set of ideologies taking forward Conneally”s vision of what splacism might and could be with the Splacist Manifesto.

Alison Hesketh from Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios talks about breaking the ice and her reaction to being asked to behave differently in public spaces:

Architects & Artists – Alison Hesketh from MADE on Vimeo.

Maddy Dring from Glancy Nicholls talks about how artists bring a freedom of thinking that can be useful for generating new ideas:

Architects & Artists – Maddy Dring from MADE on Vimeo.

Phil Howl of Howl Associates touches on changing clients perspectives of the value of bringing an artist onto a design team.

Architects & Artists – Phil Howl from MADE on Vimeo.

Dorthe Riis-Jones shares her experience of practising in Denmark where working alongside artists isstandard practice:

Architects & Artists – Dorthe Riis-Jones from MADE on Vimeo.
Julia Kashdan-Brown talks about the importance of working with artists as a part of everyday working practice:

Architects & Artists – Julia Kashdan-Brown from MADE on Vimeo.

If you would like to discus how the Splacist Group might work with your organisation to widen and explore your own ways of working through a splacist approach contact Love & Barley Assciates

Paul Conneally in action as renga master during 100 Verses for 3 Estates

Artist Nikki Pugh encourages workers to play table tennis wearing sonar blindfolds.

PHOTO Paul Conneally 2011

Artists and architects pictured with splacist artist, Nikki Pugh (centre), on a foray into Birmingham city centre during “What are the Splacists?” the first splacist training camp.

“What are the Splacists?” was hosted by MADE Birmingham and conceived by Nikki Pugh

splacist (splā sĭst) Manifesto 2.0

A contemporary mode of practice proposed by Paul Conneally.
A new set of ideologies defined by Hannah Nicklin and Nikki Pugh.
A hop, skip and a jump away from phsychogeography and the works of the situationist international.
Think space, place and splice.

Developed empirically by whoever’s interested.

DOT - made during the first Splacist Training Camp Birmingham UK - when something - something visual - some sound - some emotion - rises above the attenuated everyday noise of the city - consider it but only briefly - and give it a mark - here a dot - 1 it’s good - 2 it’s bearable - 3 it’s too noisy.

Dorthe Riis-Jones - Jaqui Rogers - Paul Conneally
30th Nov 2011

“We will trace and leave traces” Splacist Manifesto 2.0

First Splacist Training Camp MADE Birmingham UK
Photographs Paul Conneally 30th Nov 2011

INVIGILATOR : DIGBETH
Paul Conneally & Nikki Pugh