Practising Place
Practising Place is a programme of events and essays, which explore place related themes through interdisciplinary conversations. Since 2013, the programme has developed relationships between artists and academics from fields such as human geography, landscape archaeology, history and sociology, with a view to generating new understandings of places through the sharing of ideas and approaches. These conversations have been made public through a series of events across the north and Midlands in venues such as the Bluecoat Arts Centre (Liverpool), Tyneside Cinema (Newcastle), and Nottingham Contemporary, a series of commissioned essays hosted on the Double Negative arts and culture website, and a book of collaborative texts, projects and conversations published by Art Editions North.
Contributors: Rebecca Chesney, Rosemary Shirley, Joanne Lee, Paul Wilson, David Jacques, Les Roberts, Amelia Crouch, David Cooper, Ruth Levene, Ian Nesbitt, Bob Johnston, Madga Stawarska-Beavan, James G Mansell, Emily Speed, Duncan Light, Jenny Steele, David Jarratt, Victoria Lucas, Emma Fraser, William Titley, Steve Millington, Mike Collier, Lubaina Himid
Locations: Bluecoat Arts Centre (Liverpool), Nottingham Contemporary, Whitworth Art Gallery (Manchester), Tyneside Cinema (Newcastle), Storey Institute (Lancaster), Sheffield Hallam University, Manchester Metropolitan University, Liverpool Hope University, Uclan
Year: 2013-ongoing
Partners: The Double Negative, Art Editions North
Conversations
Between 2013 and 2016, Practising Place developed partnerships between 11 artists and academics from the north of England, who shared similar interests in aspects of place. Over a period of months, they shared ideas and explored each other’s research, through face-to-face and email conversations. These conversations were then made public through a series of events in venues across the north and Midlands.
Essays: The Double Negative Feature
Following the Practising Place in-conversation events, a series of five essays by the project participants were commissioned in collaboration with The Double Negative – a UK-based online magazine featuring a selection of the latest in arts, design, film and music. The essays further explore some of the themes identified during conversations between the artist/academic pairs.
On Beign Out Of Place by Rosemary Shirley
Inhabiting the Edge by Les Roberts
Tracking the Process of Abandonment by Emma Fraser
Unveiling the Sediments by Steve Millington
Urban Vibrations by James G Mansell
Practising Place: Creative and Critical Reflections on Place
The Practising Place book explores our relationship with place through a collection of co-authored texts, visual essays, creative projects and conversations between the artists and academics involved in the initial conversations programme. Featuring new and existing artworks and covering a range of themes, including rural mythologies, urban noise, boundaries and seaside nostalgia, this highly visual book demonstrates the value of interdisciplinary discourse and presents an approach to the study of place as a creative and critical practice.
The publication, which features a foreword by Lubaina Himid, includes creative explorations of places across the north of England – including a Cumbrian Center Parcs resort, Stanlow Oil Refinery, working-men’s clubs, Manchester Central Library and the edgelands of Preston and Sheffield – as well as more general themes, such as urban planning and digital space.
The book was launched in March 2019, through an event at the Whitworth Art Gallery (Manchester), which included readings, film screenings and talks by authors Magda Stawarska-Beavan, Rebecca Chesney, Rosemary Shirley, Amelia Crouch and David Cooper, and Director of Art Editions North, Mike Collier.
The book is available to purchase from Cornerhouse Publications.
Two chapters in the book make reference to media content, which can be viewed and listened to below: