transitions - artist action research

Bus shelter 2015 by Nils Norman

2009-04-16T12:18:00.005+01:00

Picture from www.treehugger.com

In 2007 artist Nils Norman was commissioned by Tate Modern to create an installation for the Global Cities project. He used a bus stop (borrowed for the exhibition from Transport for London) with draught-resistant plants planted on the roof and display of posters with ecological and environmental information presented in a propaganda-like manner.

The artist was also commissioned by Platform for Art to create Ideal City and Fantasy Piccadilly Line. The artworks were installed at Piccadilly Circus station and on Piccadilly line trains.

The Ms Guided London Experience...

2009-04-13T15:18:00.004+01:00

...with Francesca Millican-Slater and Lindsey Price. Part of Depot Untapped 2009 - a festival of experimental and contemporary theatre performance, live art, debate, workshops and master classes organised by artsdepot in North London.

Bus stop swing

2009-04-13T14:38:00.006+01:00

Bruno Taylor, Industrial Design Graduate from Central Saint Martins, is interested in different ways of bringing play back into public spaces. Here is one of his ideas from the Playful Spaces project (the other one being a bouncing park bench):

Read an article about the project on Wooster Collective website.

2009-03-22T14:41:00.006Z

Space Hijackers organise similar actions in the UK with their first major event being the hijacking of a Circle Line carriage on London Underground in 1999.
Four years later Circle Line Party II took place. Click here to view the CLP website and here for CLP III flash flyer.

Same people, no pants

2009-03-22T14:33:00.002Z

The No Pants! Subway Ride is an annual event staged by Improv Everywhere every January in New York City since 2002. The No Pants ride in 2009 had 1,200 participants in New York and over 1,000 more in 21 other cities across the globe.

Found in the Metro...

2009-03-22T14:24:00.004Z

The event was organised by Improv Everywhere, who describe themselves:

'Improv Everywhere causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 80 missions involving thousands of undercover agents. The group is based in New York City.'

Here is the link to the Metro article online including a video from the opening.

The Art on Transport in and around Newcastle upon Tyne

2009-03-21T20:05:00.005Z

Nexus, who run Tyne and Wear's public transport, is the company behind The Art on Transport programme. The scheme, initiated by Tyne & Wear County Council, has been running for 25 years and includes over 40 artists' commissions. Nexus website even features a separate section dedicated to the arts.

Image above: Three Rivers Crossword, project by Alec Finlay (2005-2006).

Catalysis series (1970-71)

2009-03-21T13:55:00.005Z

Several performances from Adrian Piper's Catalysis series (now considered classics amongst artistic interventions into daily life) took place on buses and NYC underground.
One of the interventions involved Piper getting on subway during rush hours wearing dirty, bad-smelling clothes. In Catalysis IV, Piper rode the bus, subway, and Empire State Building lift with a towel stuffed in her mouth.The interventions were designed to challenge behavioural norms within society.

Safety Pills (2000)

2009-03-21T13:37:00.003Z

Minerva Cuevas is a Mexican artist who in 1998 founded an organization called Mejor Vida Corporation (Better Life Corporation) aiming at enhancing the quality of life of the citizens of the world. For Safety Pills project Cuevas distributed little bags containing caffeine pills amongst passengers on the New York subway in order to keep them alert when travelling in case of a robbery. The project was in fact an official Metropolitan Transit Authority campaign that included posters and flyers explaining the risks of falling asleep on the subway.

Station/Stationary

2009-03-20T18:21:00.005Z

Photos by Adam Holloway.

Between 25-29th September 2008 over 100 performers transformed the Crewe Railway Station into a multisensory experience using installations, dance, film and music performances. The event was organised by Cheshire Dance. More information can be found here.

public transport memories

2009-02-28T14:27:00.002Z

Some memories of using public transport from Anthony Boswell - a fellow Longhouse action research artist:

"Using public transport was at one time a regular method of getting around. I had a daily thirty minute (or more) trip from West Bromwich to Birmingham during my college days, plus any other travelling. The buses were very often full with workers and would not stop due to no room, or they would be very cramped and standing only. I found this changed the experience, standing was uncomfortable and sitting with people standing in the aisles made me feel claustrophobic, as if my personal space was invaded. The mood was also regulated by whoever sat by me.

I always liked certain seats, near the back on a raised seat looking forward, I never liked the side facing seats. I would have drivers who raced and made the journey rushed, jolted and noisy. Other times a driver would stay at a stop for ten minutes, making me anxious for time and I have memories of sitting waiting with the vibration of the engine running through my arm from the seat in front, from the metal seat back I often held with my elbow on the window. I also only ever felt truly comfortable with the window because dreaming and looking out made me use the time constructively.

I experienced only rarely a conversation being made by strangers. It was with regular passengers who I saw daily I struck a relationship with and this I always felt funny, how the interaction only ever lasted for that slot in time. Then, one day, I would see that person no more, because they would have changed their routine or something. I think when you get on a bus, you enter a room, a waiting room where we all wait for our appointment to get off again. And on the occasion when I would travel to somewhere different, on another route, I felt a changed mood because the people seemed different, as if I was a stranger in what was their regular little room. And then, of course, you stand in busy town centre shelters and lonely shelters.

Then there were the night buses that ran hourly till the next dawn. They were totally different, yobs, drunks, or simply silent strangers. And they always drove quickly with their limited stops. I noted that very few ever went upstairs. I used to like upstairs as a kid, but stopped going up unless I had no choice. And I suppose I don’t find the Metro much different, or the trains, except for the enjoyment of speed. The Pendolino tilting trains that are used for the expresses to London are fantastic, with their whining of electricity and the sensation of power. Strangely enough, too, I always get a thrill out of using the underground, the beating veins of London, deep, hot, sometimes cool, rushes of wind on the platform. And the smell, have you noticed how different transport has a different smell?"

14 bus stations of the cross

2009-02-24T13:48:00.003Z

A particularly interesting (even if only half-baked) idea for a bus performance found on www.halfbakery.com:

"Performer begins at a bus station, preferrably in a suburban regional area, and re-enacts the first station of the cross i.e. Christ's condemnation by Pilate. One or two assistants help to prepare costumes and props and stand in for supporting characters: Mary, Pilate, the women of Jerusalem, etc.
Performers must then travel on a series of buses in costume and in character to 13 other bus station foyers on a predetermined route, re-enacting each of the other 13 stations of the cross - the wiping of Christ's face by Veronica, the crucifixion, the presentation of the body to Mary, etc. After the final burial re-enactment (station 14), there is a resurrection sequence that takes place in the art gallery at the final bus station destination - e.g. the performance begins in rural NSW and finishes at a bus stop outside a gallery in Sydney on opening night. This could also correspond with a period during Easter.
The performance and onlooker's reactions are to be documented by video and still photography and the results of which would be displayed at the gallery. A period of time would be needed between the last station and the opening/resurrection performance to edit and print/frame the documentation.
This performance recontextualises the role of Christianity within contemporary society. By juxtaposing the sacred series of events surrounding Jesus' condemnation, transportation of the cross and resulting crucifixion - with the banality of modern bus travel and bus environment - the role of religion and devotion in non religious spaces is explored and critiqued."

benfrost, Dec 07 2004

Big Toe Bus Pull (2004) by Mark McGowan

2009-02-24T13:40:00.002Z

From the guy behind The Running Tap piece...

"Mark pulled a London Routemaster bus along the road with his big toe
for 30 metres using only a piece of string and lots of will power, he
was protesting about the excessive use of bus lanes..."

Read a BBC article about the performance here.

The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton

2009-02-24T11:26:00.011Z

Some excerpts from this highly recommended book.

On travelling places:

"If we find poetry in the service station and motel, if we are drawn to the airport or train carriage, it is perhaps because, in spite of their architectural compromises and discomforts, in spite of their garish colours and harsh lighting, we implicitly feel that these isolated places offer us a material setting for an alternative to the selfish ease, the habits and confinement of the ordinary, rooted world."

Edward Hopper: Dawn In Pennsylvania

On his own fascination with airports:

"When feeling sad at home, I have often boarded a train or airport bus and gone to Heathrow, where, from an observation gallery on Terminal 2 or from the top floor of the Renaissance Hotel along the north runway, I have drawn comfort from the sight of the ceaseless landing and take-off of aircraft."

On Baudelaire:

"...he was, throughout his life, strongly drawn to harbours, docks, railway stations, trains, ships and hotel rooms; he felt more at home in the transient places of travel than in his own dwelling."

Edward Hopper: Compartment C, Car 293

On Edward Hopper's paintings:

"Hopper also took an interest in trains. He was drawn to the atmosphere inside half-empty carriages making their way across landscape: the silence that reigns inside while the wheels beat in rhytm against the rails outside, the dreaminess fostered by the noise and the view from the windows, a draminess in which we seem to stand outside our normal selves and have access to thoughts and memories that may not arise in more settled circumstances."

On travelling:

"Journeys are the midwives of thought. Few places are more conductive to internal conversations than a moving plane, ship or train. There is an almost quaint correlation between what is in front of our eyes and the thoughts we are able to have in our heads: large thoughts at times requiring large views, new thoughts new places."
"At the end of hours of train-dreaming, we may feel we have been returned to ourselves - that is, brought back into contact with emotions and ideas of importance to us. It is not necessarily at home we best encounter our true selves."

Edward Hopper: Chair Car

survey results published

2009-02-21T11:01:00.005Z

For a while I was toying with the idea of summarizing the results in some kind of essay; in the end, I decided to publish all the answers so that people who read them can draw their own conclusions.

Just like other inquiries of this kind, the survey is not representative as people who chose to take part were clearly already interested in the subject. However it represents opinions and observations shared by a quite large group of individuals (over 50 people responded), a voice that deserves to be heard, perhaps most of all by public transport companies and policy makers.

Big thanks again to everyone who took part!

P.S. The answers are compiled in a random order, in case you wondered...

artist survey - results

2009-02-21T10:17:00.004Z

Here are the artist survey results, again edited and compiled into one document (pdf, 104Kb).

Some samples:

"...as an artist- the idea of travel has always interested me - journeys on trains in particular - the miniature worlds we occupy publicly - private phone conversations in public - the boundaries of personal and public space… imagined life stories… All three - as they all interrelate."

"I heard from a friend about her eccentric bus-driver friend displaying artworks on his bus and the stop that they transformed into a living room."

"...always interested in places where people congregate. Airplane, train, sidings of trains. Ephemeral, performance, audio. Would like to work with bus drivers and/or plane drivers."

commuter survey - results

2009-02-21T10:14:00.004Z

You can download the commuter survey results, compiled into one document (pdf, 168Kb) here. It is quite long and sometimes reads like a novel! A few samples:

"...I think art is for designated places, such as galleries and museums, etc."

"I think the more the art gets in people’s way, the better. They need to be shaken a little out of their self-absorbed rut. In stations, interactive (interfering) performances involving commuters would be great. Shocking stuff, so people stop in their tracks and are unable to continue with their boring day. Perhaps a murder. People dressed as clowns, just screaming as hard as they can, or stripping. A sculpture of a decapitated arm, oozing blood, mounted above a ticket booth. Someone planted in a kiosk or café, declaiming randomly, or getting customers into heated and deep discussions about the nature of art and progress. Confusing installations in empty spaces like corridors or platforms. Beautiful and disturbing poems piped in to the loos. People in burqas handing things out, perhaps paperback novels soaked in water and frozen."

Nashville International Airport also has an art program!

2009-02-20T15:02:00.005Z

If you are going to Nashville anytime soon, you can expect to encounter live music and art by Tennessee artists at Nashville International Airport. The airport even has an arts section on their website.

Codes of Connection by T. Michael Martin

An article on msnb lists several other American airports that have performing arts programs.

Airport musical

2009-02-20T14:45:00.005Z

Bored with T-mobile dance? Watch an airport musical (well, an advert really...) here. This time it was lastminute.com who planted 14 actors and 7 hidden cameras in a waiting lounge at Stansted airport...

Platforms 1 project - Stan's Cafe

2009-02-20T14:37:00.004Z

One of the artist groups/artists commissioned by Jubilee Arts for the Platforms 1 project in 2002 was local theatre company Stan's Cafe.
"For two days in July 2002 a new station appeared on the Metro Line in West Bromwich. On the station, Earth North Central, three astronauts waited for a connection to take them off the planet to complete their onward journey to Mars..."

Ballet on the buses

2009-02-20T14:27:00.003Z

Birmingham Royal Ballet and choreographer Rosie Kay collaborated with Fierce! in 2007 to create a series of free 10-minute performances exploring the dimensions of the bus and the possibilities of experimental dance in an old Routemaster bus transformed into a portable stage. The bus was driven to schools, community centres and other public spaces across Birmingham. More info can be found here.

Trains of Our Thoughts - weblog

2009-02-20T14:22:00.002Z

"Trains of Our Thoughts is a web log dedicated to stories, essays, poetry, photographs, and other artworks depicting train travels and life along the railroad tracks. This blog is also devoted to remembering the golden years of Philippine railroad industry, and in the end, preserving the rich heritage of railroad life. Trains of Our Thoughts seeks to become the repository of memories of railroad experiences in the Philippines."

1111c on BBC website

2009-02-19T23:04:00.002Z

I meant to put a link to Jon Bounds' article on the BBC website about the 1111c event months ago, but completely forgot about it! So here it is, finally.

2009-02-19T19:03:00.006Z

Some books on local transport, found on Amazon... (and there are more out there!)

The Outer Circle: Birmingham's No 11 Bus Route

"Through archived photographs, this book captures the life on Birmingham's No. 11 bus route, from the streets and shops to women and workers."

Birmingham City Transport (Glory Days)

"Malcolm Keely records the history of Birmingham City Transport from its earliest days through to 1969 when WMPTE took over its operations."

From the City To the Maypole: A Nostalgic Journey

"This fascinating collection of over 200 archive photographs uses the popular bus route from the Maypole terminus, along the Alcester and Moseley Roads, to the centre of Birmingham, to show how the areas passed through - Kings Heath, Balsall Heath - have changed over the last century."

Telling Tales:Alight - a Multistory project in Smethwick

2009-02-19T18:26:00.005Z

You can watch the beautiful light animation that was projected on the roof of The Hawthorns Metro Station in November 2007 here.
A full story of the project can be found on Multistory website.

Casual Passer-By, Braco Dimitrijevic

2009-02-19T18:21:00.003Z

Whilst studying St Martin's College of Art in London in 1972, Braco Dimitrijevic photographed an unknown man who happened to be walking past outside the main college building. The artist then enlarged the photograph and displayed it as a series of posters on the local no. 14 buses for a limited period of time.

One Minutes - Train at the Venice Biennale

2009-01-26T11:33:00.003Z

"The One Minutes Train is a journey across the world. In exactly one minute you will see a landscape filmed through the window of a running train. One minute of English landscape, German landscape, Russian, Chinese, African, American, Dutch... the whole world by train in a collective artwork.

Make your One Minute through the window of a running train – in exactly one minute, in one take, with the audio of the train...

A selection of One Minutes - Train will be shown as an installation in the Arsenale Spa during the Venice Biennale, followed by other exhibitions.

All submitted videos will be part of the award competition in the category looking out of the window."

The Edge Hill station, Liverpool

2009-01-26T02:02:00.005Z

Edge Hill is a train station in Liverpool dating back to 1830 - apparently the oldest passenger railway station in the world! - which, until recently, was closed to the public.

It is now leased by an artist's laboratory Metal Culture who put on various events, performances, screenings and arts projects in and around the station buildings and platforms. The project have included a residency by digital artists Al and Al and Nexus - an outdoor pavilion by Colombian artist/architect team, Luis Fernando and Juan Manuel Peláez. Metal Culture are also working towards a longer-term renovation of the station.

Metal Culture also hosted The Edge Hill International Festival in June 2007, as part of the European Arts project Open Here. Watch a video about the festival here.

More info about The Edge Hill project can be found here.

Looking For The Black Redstart

2009-01-26T01:21:00.005Z

Looking For The Black Redstart by Clare Thornton was one of the Platforms 2005 projects, commissioned by The Public as part of Fierce! performance festival.

Clare, together with wildlife experts, organised guided walks along the ‘nature corridor’ of the Metro route in search for one of the rarest British birds: the Black Redstart.

More info about the project can be found on Clare's blog and on fierce tv.

Below is the project's poster.

Platforms 1 project

2009-01-26T00:13:00.007Z

Another local project, this time along the Metro route in Sandwell. In 2002 Jubilee Arts commissioned 12 artists to consider and engage the people who live, work and travel along the Metro route in the making of new temporary artworks for the Borough of Sandwell and its neighbours.

Some more information about the project can be found here.

Survival4 festival.

2009-01-25T22:34:00.006Z

The fourth edition of Survival: a contemporary art festival that presents works by emerging artists outside of traditional gallery and exhibition spaces, took place in May 2006 at the main railway station in Wrocław, Poland. The festival involved 45 artists and collectives and included performances, video projections and installations.
Images below: performance Huśtanie się by Łuhuu!, Anna Szczepańska's Hellow and Poduszki by Renata Szułczyńska.

A couple of links...

2009-01-25T22:11:00.003Z

A website with images of decorated trains in Japan (link sent by Jon Bounds).

For a contrasting experience visit West Midlands Buses in Photographs website...

Between the Space project

2009-01-25T21:50:00.006Z

Between the Space was a series of visual art interventions by three artists that took place from January to April 2007 at Reading station, London Paddington station, in Reach magazine and the trains in between.

Arnaud Desjardin, for his project Stranger on the Train, took up a transitory residency on the trains inviting people to discuss his practice, the practice of other artists and socially engaged arts practices.

Olivia Plender's new cartoon Work, produced as a result of her engagement with staff at Reading station, was printed in First Great Western's free in-house magazine Reach (picture below).

Jo Roberts, for her project Back and Forth, produced a free printed booklet inspired by her time spent on the local stopper trains. The book was available at Reading and London Paddington stations and can also be downloaded from Between Space website.

Airports, airports....

2009-01-25T19:35:00.008Z

At Schiphol Airport one can find a real, free of charge art museum built within the airport - Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Schiphol (situated on Holland Boulevard, between piers E and F). It displays the works of great art masters like Rembrandt or Vermeer as well as contemporary artists.
Image above: The Niijima Floats by Dale Chihuly.

The Airport Gallery is a commercial gallery owned by artist John Riley, the first of its kind in a UK airport showcasing Scottish artists at Edinburgh and Glasgow airports.

There are also galleries at Luton Airport (The Gateway Gallery in the arrival hall) and London City Airport (which exhibits local artists awarded London City Airport Art Awards). Liverpool John Lennon Airport, on the other hand, displays a huge, 1.6 mln multimedia art project Air Portal Initiative (image below) which highlights the city’s Capital of Culture status.

Bus Art Marks Perry Barr's 75th Birthday

2009-01-25T18:14:00.005Z

Another example of a collaborative arts project involving buses. Unfortunately I can't find any pictures online so will have to go there myself and investigate...

"National Express West Midlands, Birmingham-based arts group ecArts and the Voice of Aston Community Centre delivered an arts project to celebrate the Perry Barr bus depot's 75th birthday. Fine arts professional, Martin Humphries and three young people from Aston created a mural in the Perry Barr canteen depicting the history of public transport in Birmingham - from the days when trams graced the streets of the city, through the 1930s and up to the modern day".

(information based on a press release on Travel WM website, 11/03/2008)

Social Fabric #71 an everyday experience

2009-01-25T17:27:00.009Z

Another local art and public transport project I came across. Artists Jayne Murray, Alisha Miller and Emily Campbell collaborated with passengers on the 71 bus (Solihull to Sutton Coldfield) to create new seating fabric designs. Temporary white seat covers were installed on the bus for five days. The marks made by the passengers were then embroidered, using a different colour for each day. Here are some scans from the project's catalogue.

And an exhibition shot of the final fabric design at Solihull Art Gallery (photo by Simon Hope)

art project at bus station in Northampton

2008-11-26T18:00:00.007Z

Arts organisation Open Spaces Open Places aims to offer people a chance to experience art outside of gallery space. It organized an interesting public art project this year: four artists were commissioned to create site specific work in response to Greyfriars Bus Station - one of Northampton’s most hated buildings. The project also involved an artist tour and DIY art workshops.
More info can be found here.

Greyfriars bus station, Northampton

Survivalist by Rich White - one of the commissioned artworks

tube inspired work

2008-11-26T14:07:00.005Z

Lucy Harrison’s tube-inspired work: 27 Stops.
The artist was also commissioned by Art on the Underground to do a project at Stratford railway station as part of Stratford Research Project where she worked with local communities, businesses and individuals to explore and reveal the social networks in and around the station and the town. Her findings took the form of a free newspaper.

number 11 again

2008-11-26T11:10:00.003Z

On the 2nd of July 2005, Spice, "the UK's leading action and adventure group" organised the first ever official tour of the city using the number 11 route.
You can read the BBC article about the event here.

performance on a bus

2008-11-26T11:04:00.005Z

Lost & Found is a live performance designed by an artist group Curious for systems of transportation specific to different cities. It includes a performance in Black Country commissioned by The Public as part of Fierce festival 2005 based on the local people’s reflections on their sense of place and the breakdown of community in an area of significant regeneration. Performed on an old bus (picture by Andy Pryke) stopping at fake bus stops and driving around the city. I saw the performance in 2005.

And the prize winner is:

2008-11-25T19:12:00.004Z

Magdalena Ścieżka from Coventry is the winner of a weekly adult regional n-network card (unlimited travel on all public transport within the West Midlands for a week) or cash equivalent (£23.20).

Congratulations to the winner and thank you to everybody who took part in my surveys!

and more underground art projects...

2008-11-25T18:05:00.009Z

Art Below is a London based organisation that exhibits artworks using advertising space in the London Underground. Since 2005 the work of over 300 artists world wide has been exhibited.

Image above: Gay Chevara poster at Oxford Circus station photographed by s.o.f.t.

Stockholm’s underground claims to be “the longest art exhibition in the world” with 90 stations presenting 110 km of works by 150 artists embracing a variety of art forms: from sculpture and ceramics to video and performance and including art by both established and emerging local artists. The company organises regular guided tours of the underground art for the price of a single ticket, there is also an internet guide on art on the various lines and a book “Art goes underground. Art in the Stockholm Metro”. Stockholm Metro also runs a poetry programme called “Poetry on the way” based on the London Underground idea from the 80s.

Images below:
Videoart at Skanstull station and Kungsträdgården station

In the New York subway, since 1985, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority runs a programme known as Arts for Transit. An on-line guide to New Your subway art can be found here.

another local curiosity...

2008-11-25T17:40:00.007Z

Jon Bounds emailed me this leaflet advertising alternative bus tours of Birmingham that used to be organised by The Bus Ltd on a 30-year-old ex-corporation omnibus incorporating stops at some of the best public houses in the city.

The listed tours had truly tempting names such as: The Doctor Dolittle Tour, Karaoke Night, Caribbean or Thai Night, Graveyard or Ghost Walks...

Here is the slogan:
"...a mystical journey around Birmingham's hidden gems coupled with some of the finest and unique entertainment the City has to offer... A merging of the 19th and the 20th centuries!"

Has anybody been on any of the tours?

public art in public transport context

2008-11-25T17:35:00.003Z

The most common and obvious way in which art meets public transport is placing public artworks in and around public transport settings: train, bus and underground stations and airports. This is usually initiated by the public transport companies and companies which govern/manage the above listed.

Local examples of public art in public transport settings are numerous and can be found in a guide called “Public Art in Public Transport” produced by Centro (the West Midlands Public Transport Executive) and the West Midlands Transport Authority (WMPTA) in 2005, presenting over 80 artworks commissioned during the 12 years since the launch of their public art programme. A leaflet has also been produced about the trail of sculptures on the route of bus no. 8.

The use of public art on Centro's bus, rail and metro systems apparently has two main aims: to create a pleasant travelling environment and to deter acts of vandalism...

There is also a flickr group dedicated to documenting public art in public transport accross the region using photography.
www.flickr.com/groups/public_art_in_public_transport_wm/pool/

Art on the Underground

2008-11-25T17:21:00.005Z

London Underground has been presenting art and design since 1908 when managing director Frank Pick began commissioning leading artists such as Man Ray or Graham Sutherland to work on poster campaigns. Art on the Underground, the London Underground art programme, commissions and presents new artworks (from pocket tube map cover by Mark Wallinger to large-scale installations such as the one by Chiho Aoshima), distributes free art posters, organises symposiums on art in public contexts, artist talks and art auctions (like the recent Roundel art auction celebrating the 100th anniversary of the symbol for London Underground with artworks by 100 commissioned artists). Art on the Underground has recently published a book: Platform for Art: Art on the Underground.

Stan Trow's bus

2008-11-24T21:59:00.004Z

The image comes from the book Golden Years of West Bromwich. The bus (it is a bus!) had more than 1000 lights powered by 60 ten volt batteries and was decorated with scenes depicting the development of road transport in West Bromwich over the previous 100 years. It was done in 1951, for the Festival of Britain.

Steve Trow recalls:

"Yup that's dad's handiwork. His name was Stan Trow and he worked at West Bromwich Bus Garage for over 40 years, retiring in about 1972 I think.

The decorated bus was part of West Bromwich Corporation's contribution to the national Festival of Britain in 1951 - intended to get the nation feeling upbeat again after WW2 whilst also commemorating the Great Exhibition of 1851.

In those days, each local Council or Corporation had its own bus service with its own distinctive livery (rather than the regional transport authorities we've had since and the multi-coloured mobile adverts we have now). The West Brom buses were cream and blue and had the Corporation's Coat of Arms hand painted on them. They were coach painted rather than spray painted. So dad was a skilled signwright and coachpainter, a genuine artisan, and had been Foreman (Head) of the Paintshop since the 30s. So they gave him the job of designing and decorating this single decker bus to tour the streets of the borough. A wooden frame was built and attached to the outside of the bus and then covered in gauze that could be painted with the designs but that could have sections the driver could see through.

I don't know if the bus also had loudspeakers in 1951 to play music (I was only 2 at the time, but I could ask my mum who's still here). I do know that the bus was such a success that it was kept for several more years and redecorated with winter and snow scenes so that it could tour West Brom each Christmas playing carols.

As an interesting footnote, dad also supervised the design and decoration of another bus 27 years later. That was a double decker and was the first bus that we bought two years after I set up Jubilee - our mobile children's and young people's arts centre. All hand painted again, just like the old days. Dad made sure we did it properly - "Yow've gorra keep rubbin' it dahn!"

1111c

2008-11-24T11:37:00.007Z

The Polaroid-like images at the top of the page were taken during the 1111c event organised by Jon Bounds, the guy behind the Birmingham It's Not Shit website.

The idea was for people to stay on the number 11 bus for 11 hours on 11/11/08 (never leaving the bus for longer than an hour at a time) and document their experience in various ways: blogging, drawing, twitting, taking photos, videoing... The work of the participants can be viewed here. One of the people on board was a blogging bus driver aka TWMdriver, you can read more about his experience of being a passenger (for a change) on his blog.

Jon kindly put many of my images from the day online, you can view them here.

my action research - why and how?

2008-11-23T20:21:00.002Z

As a freelance artist I work across the region, as well as nationally and internationally, which involves a lot of travel. Since I do not own a car, I spend a lot of my time on public transport: buses, trains, trams, ferries, planes and spaces such as train stations, bus stops and airports. What I am fascinated by is the fluid in-between and in-progress nature that all these spaces have in common and their transitional character that goes beyond their obvious function. Their identities change along with the people inhabiting them: from safe and cosy to uneasy and threatening; they are places of human encounter that nobody inhabits for longer than necessary.

Using public transport also evokes various, often opposite emotions and connotations such as: excitement and adventure (travelling), repetitiveness and the everyday (commuting), rootless-ness and displacement (refugees and asylum seekers). There is also another, quite recent dimension to it – one related to terrorism.

In short – I find the public transport network a fascinating domain for artistic exploration with great potential and a large, diverse number of possible participants/audience, but often overlooked by the art world.

My research includes the following categories:

* Context – researching examples of site-specific artworks and art inspired by public transport (both people and places);
* Development of arts practice – researching and testing ideas for my own practice/projects relating to public transport;
*Dissemination – researching possibilities for dissemination of various art forms in the public transport domain (visual arts, moving image, live art);

My research methods include:

* Observation and documentation analysis (notes and photography);
* Academic research (books and internet);
* Interviews (with members of public, public transport companies and other artists interested in working in the public realm);
* Completing a small arts project (people- or site-specific) in a public transport setting.
* Continuous evaluation and reflection.

public transport and cultural anthropology

2008-11-17T17:07:00.006Z

As my background is in cultural studies, I have been interested in anthropological analyses of the public transport domain, particularly in terms of theories about what differentiates it from other public spaces, the distinction between a place and a space and the social aspect of the public transport environment.

I have read books and articles by such authors as: Yi-Fu Tuan, Humphry Osmond, Edward T. Hall, Robert Sommer and Marc Augé. It was quite an illuminating process that has given me plenty of ideas and helped me to place my research in a wider context. I have also written an essay outlining the theories I found most important or most relevant to the research.

To download the essay (pdf, 2Mb) click here.

Martha Rosler's Library

2008-11-17T16:02:00.004Z

This is a shelf with books about public transport, a fragment of the exhibition Library by artist Martha Rosler: an installation of about eight thousand books from her personal collection. I took the picture at Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, in October 2008.

Martha Rosler has both written essays, and produced work about public transport: Travel Stories, 2002, In The Place of The Public: Observations of a Frequent Flyer (1983-).

Bobby's Bus Stop

2008-11-16T14:47:00.010Z

The images above depict Bobby's Bus Stop in Haroldswick, a village on the most northerly island in the Shetland Isles - Unst. A local schoolboy, Bobby Maculay, started decorating the bus stop a few years ago. It is now the island's most popular tourist attraction and one of my favourite independent arts projects in the public transport context. The images are from 2003, 2005 and 2007.
The bus stop has it's own website.

commuter and artist surveys

2008-11-16T12:50:00.003Z

As part of my research I have been conducting surveys amongst artists and commuters. So far about 50 people took part which I am very pleased with - thank you!

If you are a commuter you can take the survey here.

If you are an artist you can take the survey here.

Or you can take them both if you can not decide:).

Submit the survey before the 22nd of November and you will be entered into a prize draw - the prize is a weekly adult regional n-network card (unlimited travel on all public transport within the West Midlands for a week) or cash equivalent (£23.20)

blogging backwards and forwards

2008-11-16T08:04:00.000Z

I have given myself a difficult task: to start blogging about the action research I was commissioned to do by Longhouse, 3 months after I started working on it. I decided to document and share my findings on a blog since the volume of my findings is huge and still growing and because quite a few people have expressed an interest in learning about it.