Pass the cultural baton!
Artists from Ashford have been
shortlisted for a special arts project - the first of its
kind in the country - celebrating Kent’s culture ahead of the
2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Kent Cultural Baton will be an
original piece of artwork that will travel around the county
visiting festivals, organisations, individuals, schools and
businesses, which together will represent the 21 different
representations of ‘culture’ and ‘creativity’ as defined by the
London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.
These include art, science, food, gardens,
heritage and historic, carnival and street theatre, music and the
environment.
Each host llocation of the ‘baton’ will be able
to contribute to a special blog highlighting their cultural
activities. When the baton ends its journey in 2012, it will be
displayed as a reminder of London 2012 for future generations.
An artist will be chosen to create the 'baton'
itself, and the selection panel consisting of professionals with
significant expertise in a number of relevant fields were
particularly impressed by the following three shortlisted proposals
- two of which come from Ashford artists.
Cathy Streeter: Bat
‘n’ Ball
Conceptual artist Cathy Streeter is based in
Ashford and earlier this year was also shortlisted
for the prestigious Rouse Kent Public Art Award 2009 for her
temporary artwork: ‘till the cows come home’.
Cathy proposes a ball that demonstrates the link
between sport and Kent’s culture. The ball will travel through the
county opening at each chosen location to reveal an LED screen that
plays a film of Kent’s cultural landscape
Nina Atkinson, Dawn Cole and Emma
Moody-Smith: Brick by Brick
The collaboration of these artists was formed in
2008 through the mentoring programme led by artists John Atkin,
Nayan Kulkarni and Michael Pinsky, which was part of the Ashford
based public art project: Breaking Boundaries.
Brick by Brick will begin as an empty
structure that will take the form of a grid of brick sized
sections. As the structure travels through the county, communities
will be invited to create artwork to fill the bricks. The wall will
aim to build a legacy of shared participation, shared creativity
and shared memories and will reflect the diversity that exists
within Kent.
Nicole Mollett: Travelling
Pod
Nicole Mollett is Lead Artist and Curator for a
regeneration art project on the Isle of Sheppey.
Art at the Centre is run by Swale Borough Council and is
an Arts Council England funded initiative that began in 2004.
Nicole’s proposal is to create a travelling pod
that can be adapted to conduct various tasks including
surveillance, photography, weather recording, webcam and sound
recording in addition to being a temporary gallery space.
The pod will travel among Kent communities and, through a
series of workshops, will result in the creation of an alternative
map of the county that encourages people to explore the lost,
forgotten and hidden places of Kent.
The arts project will enable the whole county to
interact with the baton. It will launch in spring 2010 and
will journey through the county in the run up to London 2012.
From September, Future Creative (formerly
Creative Partnerships) will run an outreach programme to four Kent
schools. The shortlisted artists will work with the schools that
will then have the opportunity to influence the artists’ designs
with their own ideas.
The successful artist will then be chosen later
in the year and announced at a special celebration on 3
December.
Media release 0267/09
25/08/09
This webpage was updated on
8/25/2009