Possible sights

Ormeau Park:

It's features includes a bandstand, basketball/netball, playing fields, bowling greens and pavilions, car parking, an ecotrail, horticultural displays, orienteering course, playgrounds, seasonal bedding, specimen trees, soccer, tennis and walks. It was Belfast`s first public park, having opened its doors in 1871. It is still one of the largest parks in Belfast and offers a mixture of horticulture, woodland, wildlife and sporting facilities. In this huge space were space is not an issue, numbers of people is not either. It is a great meeting place and one, of which, you really feel like your our of the city. All areas are wheel chair accessible.
The demesne at Ormeau was the home of the Donegall family. The second Marquis moved there in 1807 and extended Ormeau House to accommodate his large household. The estate was sold in the 1860s to Belfast Corporation to pay off family debts due to gambling! Subsequently, the land was opened in 1871 as Ormeau Park and remains so today.

Shaftesbury Area:

Shaftesbury Recreation Centre, which runs next to the river Lagan, has great facilities and is managed by the LORAG (Lower Ormeau residents Action Group). It is available for a range of activities: football, basketball, badminton, dance classes, martial arts, keep fit classes, exercises and boccia. There can facilitate up to 500 seated people, equiped with conference, seminars, meetings rooms and an IT suite. The surrounding housing estate has been given a face lift provided by the Re-imagining programme.

Gasworks:

Continuing down my walk along the river Lagan, next was the Gasworks. The gasworks is a prime business location which includes Halifax, the Radison SAS Hotel. In it's day it produced heat and light for all of Belfast. Due to the high costs associated with gas production and th ereduction in demand the site closed in 1988, becoming vacant and derelict. Belfast City Council partnered up with the Gasworks to produce this corporation development which includes a high quality public realm, vehicle, pedestrian and cycle paths, significant works of art by local artists. Mike Hogg's 'Bottle Top' is shown in image.
The development restored the Clock Tower in 2002, sending out the message that time no longer stands still!

Further Playgrounds in Belfast:

• Balfour Avenue Playground, Balfour Avenue, Ormeau Road, BT7 2EW
• Barnetts Playground, Barnetts Demesne, Shaw’s Bridge Car Park, BT9 5PB
• Blythefield Playground, Blythe Street, Sandy Row, BT12 5HW
• Botanic Playground, Botanic Gardens, Stranmillis Embankment, BT7 1PN
• Carnanmore Playground, Carnanmore Park, Blacks Road, BT11 9LY
• Drumglass Playground, Drumglass/Cranmore Park, Lisburn Road, BT9 6JF
• Dunville Playground, Dunville Park, Dunville Street, BT12 4NF
• Falls Playground, Falls Park, Falls Road, BT12 6AN
• Geeragh Playground, Finaghy Community Centre, Geeragh Place, BT10 0ER
• Glassmullin Playground, Slievegallion Drive, Andersonstown Road, BT11 8JP
• Horn Drive Playground, Lenadoon Walk, Lenadoon Avenue, BT11 9GU
• Lemberg Street Playground, Lemberg Street, Roden Street, BT12 5QB
• McClure Street Playground,McClure Street, BT7 1FX
• Moyard Playground, Moyard Crescent, New Barnsley Park, BT12 7HJ
• Northlink Playground, Northlink Playing Fields, BT11 8HW
• Olympia Playground, Olympia Leisure Centre, Boucher Road, BT12 6NT
• Rev. Robert Bradford Playground, Howard Street South, Donegall Pass, BT7 1AX
• Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Playground, Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park, Upper Malone Road, BT17 9LA
• Springhill Playground, Springhill Crescent, Springhill Avenue, Whiterock Road, BT12 7QJ
• Taughmonagh Playground, Malton Drive, Malone Road, BT9 6QF
• Wedderburn Playground, Wedderburn Playing Fields, Orpen Park, BT10 0BN

Play Performance, FIX Festival

My performance for the FIX Festival challenged my own concept of play. The collaborative performance was done on the Ormeau Bridge, with Chrissie Cadman and Christoff Gillen, two professional performance artists, we played games using various sides balls and hulla hoops. We played to four hours repeating the rythms and manipulated them, to disrupt the flow of traffic and the daily routine of viewers travelling home from work. Days after the performance and travelled passed this site; day dreaming of the playful times I had there. It arouse emotions from the happy fun experience I had there.
We claimed the space temporarily for the use of play, it made me consider how children/people claim the streets temporarily in their daily lives; playing football on the streets, cycling their bike or hide and seek between the parked cars. It was our space in the time that the performance took place and I will forever have a connect to it.

I had a chance to experiment with my class mates as I was due to do a presentation on 'how Designers Might Design'
Collect names from groups presented to, contact mobile numbers and email addresses.

Text group informing them that they’re received an email.
“you have received an email from me. Please do not respond to this message”
They receive an email containing an image and a question, questioning the space within the image.

1- How does this space make you feel?

2- How could you change this space?

3- Is this space private of public?

I threw up these questions in the week running up to my presentation. This was done as a build up, for them to question the space and for each participant to think differently about interacting within it.

On the day – Tuesday 11th December, 2007. I invited the group into the space in question, to play games. It was the entrance area of the college. I gave simple instructions for each game. Asked if anyone wanted to add/subtract anything form the instructions.

Game 1 – Pass the Clap
Everyone in the group has an imaginary ball and to pass the ball around one must clap, for someone to catch it they must clap simultaneously. The ball is pass around the circle and once a firm rhythm is established, start accelerating slowly. Add in a few extra balls into the circle so there are several claps going around the circle at the same time.

Game 2 – Zip, Zap, Bop, Toin
Everybody gets in a circle. This game is similar to claps. Each ball has its own special movement pattern, and its own sound. Each word is introduced separately until participants understand the instructions. This time when a ball is being passed to the person next to that, the person says ‘Zip’; to a person across from them ‘Zap’; to block the ball, the participant jumps and puts they’re hands up. The ball is returned in direction by saying ‘Bop”.

Game 3 - Homage to Magritte ‘this bottle is not a bottle’

‘There is many objects with a single object, if the final goal is the revolution; but there would be no objects within any object. If that goal were to disappear’ (Bertolt Brecht). Discuss Rene Magritte’s work ‘ this is not a pipe’; the picture bears titles, which disrupt the identification of the object they depict. ‘This is not a bottle, so what could it be? The game consists of giving the group a bottle, placing it in the middle of the circle, where each participant in succession must discover a use for, by the addition of his or her body to the image; what could this object have been? The body can be acted out as a phone, hairbrush, football, possibilities are endless.

Bring group back to room for a discussion on play and space. Throwing out questions o start of debate. Did you feel like you claimed the space temporarily? Could that be adapted to any space? Where?
Using the college as a metaphor for the city, can you suggest other spaces that we could claim temporarily and use for play? Why some over others? What restrictions are there? Who puts these restictions there? Do we as students own this space, as we have paid for entry (like membership fee into a club), have rights to be in the space. But we do not have authorisation of make permanent changed to the space, temporary play like this is acceptable but not much more. The entrance to the college is cold, clinical, executive, exposed, formal; everything that you would not imagine an art college to feel like. Does the college not no what its suppose to be and what it suppose to be for?
What spaces and Private and Public? What spaces are controlled in the city – college, shopping centre, city hall, alley ways, derelict buildings, public parks etc?
(Architects) Does this idea wreck your head – that a space for play cannot be a controlled space? Did you see any importance in the game exercies, now that the objective behind it is clearer?
I am interested in designing a new game that integrates groups that wouldn’t normally meet. What games already exist within these groups? What games would be possible – football. How do we play in our everyday lives? Modern play – eg facebook, bebo, myspace (online networking), mobiles, SMS, playstation, online multi-player games (Counter Strike, World of War Craft, Call of Duty, Quake Three, Eve), Nintendo DS (portable games console). How do you play in your everyday lives?

I told the story in my presentation about how my ownership and attachment to a space on the Ormeau bridge had changes since my performance there. I hoped each person could gain something from their play experience that day. That it would raise different emotions and question their attachment about the space they just played in.

Cliftonville Community Centre - Initial Plans

Room for workshop

Workshop 1:
A meeting was held in the Cliftonville Community Centre, 11th January, 2008 at 3pm to discuss the ideas for a Workshop to be held at Cliftonville Community Centre (CCC), a time-line of the project, available groups, times available, Tools & Materials. Attending was Ruth Graham (GT Gallery), Michelle Nolan (MA Art in Public). Louise Mathews and Ray Grant (Cliftonville Community Centre).
I approached CCC with my idea of constructing foldable play huts/houses/tools, both Louise and Ray were enthused about the idea. The initial initial workshop – temporary, foldable playhouse/play tools made from recycled or found materials. The group will source the materials themselves or participate in the collect of.
Last summer local lads boys the hut the boys initiated last summer and personally constructed. It lasted 2weeks before it was burnt down, more likely than not by the boys on the other side of the Peace line. Evidence of the burning remains on the wall, where the hut had been placed.

There is a large gap next to the Peace line. An area barricaded off for security purposes, allowing a space to separating the Protestant (Shankill) and Catholic (Cliftonville) neighbourhoods from each other, in case of sectarianism disputes. Tension particularly grows during the summer months and segregated group’s aim with bottles, stones and metal at the other. This ‘no man’s land’ is a contested space and one that the Belfast City Council (BCC) needs to be challenged over. The young people could initiate applications and a proposal for a project to develop in this contested space.

It is arranged that workshops begin on Tuesday 22nd January, at 8pm.

I questioned the possibility of doing a climbing project on the peace wall by constructing a temporary climbing device or a magnetic board game on the galvanized sections. This idea was dismissed because it would pose problems with both communities, aiding easy access but my magnetic board game idea was welcomed and is a possible project in the future.
A Draw-In would be arranged on the second workshop. I suggest inviting the parkour boys (PB) to the Draw-In (Saturdays being available day for them as a lot of them travel in from the country). They would bring a lot of energy and creativity to the workshop. Ramps could be easily constructed. The PB would bring the skills necessary to training/teach the group about free running. Otherwise a trip would be made to the Waterfront (the location were the PB meet) on a Saturday midway through the workshop, like a carrot to keep them motived. Proposed date: 16th February. I would like to invite groups from the CCC, Draw-IN members and give an open invite to come together for a Draw-In session, held at the Playground at CCC. The objective of the Draw-In is to construct temporary obstacle courses, play houses/tools and equipment. LM & RG suggested for this to be held on a Tuesday evening as part of the workshop. The sand playground, football pitch and changing room are available. Proposed date: 22/29 January.
At the end of this workshop I will bring the group camping with there newly produced fold-able huts. Location is yet to be decided. This will come about with the help and organisation of the team at CCC.


Workshops 2:
There was mention about the playground needing a revamp and Ciara (who runs the crèche) has sourced funding for that to go ahead. I obviously expressed my interest in getting involved in the design and construction of. The area directly outside the crèche is presently used for children, 1-7 year olds, but is solely a sanded area with no equipment. A blank canvas as such.

There is huge possibilities for this space and a lot of primary research is needed for the design of play tools/equipment. First off, I propose to set up a camera above the creche (the creche is inside the two shutters) looking down on to the sand area for play. Set the camera at stop motion. Observe the markings on the sand; note the movements in the sand. Do the children make curvy or straight lines? The area with most markings will indicate area used most, likewise with the still patches of sand least used. What play equipment is suitable for frequent use and/or group use? What games or play tools is suitable for quiet locations within the playground and/or individual?
Note measurements in height and in distance form a number of children. Take the adverage of both. Note also the adverage in height and width of the children; how much area space they need.

I will begin primary research for the play space during my time spent at CCC for workshop one. With negotiations with Ciara, design and produce play tools/equipment for the particular children in mind. I will propose workshops with the children attending the creche to get a better understanding of their needs and desires for the space; a wish list. i hope to begin these workshops after the Easter break. Design and production will begin in late September.

Carsten Holler's slides

The Turbine Hall generally has something interesting in it. This time a huge series of chrome tube slides were installed nearly the whole height of the space. A few years ago, there was an exhibit at Boston's former ICA on Boylston Street by the Belgium-born, Swedish artist Carsten Holler of slides. This piece at the Tate Modern is an extension of the earlier, more modest ICA vision. This like some of his other installations is about human behavior, perception, logic and self-exploration. Apparently, the artist is intrigued by the visual spectacle of watching people sliding and the inner spectacle experienced by the sliders themselves incorporating simultaneous anxiety and delight.

And he's 'ittle piggies

Questioning spaces

To realise a playground; develop a model and strategies for designing play environments. Need to understand what is importnat to each player. What design process is best to develop strategies for future projects. What do I need in my toolkit for planning action?
I began my external collaboration with the idea of putting together proposals for Outreach Programmes run by Golden Thread Gallery. The idea for these workshops is to allow opportunity to express their wishes and desires for (un)defined space within their community.

Working with Ardoyle Shankill Health Project ASHP. Sites include Ardoyle Health Centre and Youth Club and Shankill Stadium Youth Club. What spaces are less restricted and unrestricted? And within the building what space is (un)defined or claimed?

Outcomes for 10 week workshops:
Realise their ideas through drawings, models making, performances, drama, through play.
Analysis what is play for them?

Who needs to play? Everyone. Greater need for people that have been deprived in Belfast.

Wikipedia's definition: "A playground is an area designed for children to play. Most forms of play are essential for healthy development, but free, spontaneous play—the kind that occurs on playgrounds—is the most beneficial type of play?" I don't believe this! Children play spontaneously everywhere and children are not permitted to play freely within a playground as they are usually subject to adult supervision and oversight.
Children traditionally "play out" in the streets for long periods without supervision, most commonly in children between the ages of seven and twelve. I believe that playgrounds need to be balanced with marginal areas that appear to be derelict or waste ground. Less restricted space within the community can be space for play and this space is temporarily theirs. Less restricted spaces I'd foresee are woods, fields, phone boxes, the streets, derelict buildings, waste grounds, green areas, stairways, etc. I plan now to photograph such sites and observe what undefined spaces people claimed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_street_culture

http://www.playboard.org/ - play manifesto

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3780/is_199610/ai_n8758229 - Book

Waterfront - Young people interact through skate boarding.
Design a game that young people engages with people from different backgrounds. E.g Football, Skate boarding. Observe whats in situ at present.
Modern games - invent game, music, multi media, physical game.

Private and Public on facebook.
Sms, mms

Kurt PERSCHKE and Richard Serra

Kurt PERSCHKE's Redball project, back to the United States

Mobile sculptural installation integrates with Scottsdale surroundings to create the art of human interaction New York, NY (January 28, 2008) -- New York-based artist Kurt Perschke brought his RedBall Project back to the United States in January 2008 with a series of installations in Scottsdale, Ariz. Commissioned by Scottsdale Public Art, this is the sixth appearance by the RedBall Project, and the first in the United States since 2005. Perschke states, ?On the surface the experience seems to be about the ball itself as an object, but the true power of the project is what it can create for those who experience it. Transforming the spectator into a participant in the act of imagination.? While the red ball is 15 feet (4.6 meters) in diameter and weighs 250 pounds (120 kilograms), the inflatable orb is more than a simple object. From oddly curious stares, to playful interaction and immediate engagement, Perschke?s RedBall Project has created a buzz in every city it has visited. The Public Art program in Scottsdale saw an opportunity with RedBall to bring an installation to the city which created personal interaction among strangers and entered the public?s imagination. ?I had seen the reaction RedBall Project received in other cities around the world and believed Scottsdale was an ideal location for the installation,? said Valerie Vadala Homer, program director for the Scottsdale Public Art Program. ?Since it first appeared on January 18 the public response has been overwhelming and it has truly created a public dialogue in our city.? Scottsdale Public Art has brought more than 80 public artworks to Scottsdale since 1985. This includes permanent iconic artworks such as The Doors by Donald Lipski, Love by Robert Indiana and Knight Rise by James Turell one of only three skyspaces open to the public in the United States. Future RedBall locales are currently under consideration for cities in Asia, Europe, Turkey and the United States. For more information on Kurt Perschke?s RedBall Project or Scottsdale Public Art, please visit www.redballproject.com or www.scottsdalepublicart.org.

Only boring people are bored. And there are more reasons to live in San Diego than just the fact that we have less traffic than L.A. and more sunshine than New York. Promise. One of the biggest reasons occurred over the weekend when the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego more than doubled its downtown location space with the opening of the new Copley and Jacobs buildings across the street from the original Kettner building and downtown trolley station. To celebrate, MCASD filled its brand new walls with specially-commissioned installation art like the giant unmentionable-looking, hanging, scented sculpture of Ernesto Neto and Richard Serra's huge steel blocks that line the patio adjacent to the railroad. BTW, the name of Neto's piece is as great as it looks:

"Mother body emotional densities, for alive temple time baby son,"

His works present simple geometrical shapes, planes, ellipses, truncated cones, etc. One of his most famous works, “Snake”, shown in the central image, is based on a third-degree polynomial equation. In this group we can also include those works that adopt forms of surface equations not considered in the other groups. For example transcendent mathematical equations, such as trigonometric or exponential, etc.

Richard Serra's 'Snake' in the Guggenhiem Museum Bilbao - architect Frank Gehry. Great essay about the building in 'Architecture of Aftermath' by Terry Smith.

Upcoming Events...

FIX 07 - 7TH INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL

14 NOVEMBER - 07 DECEMBER 2007

On 28th and 29th November 2007, 7 MA students and 2 members of staff will participate in FIX, the 7th International Performance Biennial hosted by Catalyst Arts in Belfast. On Ormeauary Road, between the Library/Bridge/Annadale Embankment and Haywood Avenue, the artists will make both individual and collective interventions using performances or tempor installations. The interventions/performanes will take place between 3-7 pm. On 30th November 2007, there will be a public round table talk at Catalyst with the participants of the event at 6 pm. Title: creative dynamic social?

The participants are:

Chrissie Cadmann
Kris Gillen
Eleanor Philips
Sarah McAvera
Acitore Artezione
Wendy Nicole Keys
Michelle Nolan
Soirse Higgins
Susanne Bosch
Sinead McKeever
Ann Marie Dillon

FIX07, the oldest live art biennial in the UK, presents a programme of performances, interventions, discussions and workshops illustrating creative strategies for a dynamic engagement with the praxis of live art. Established since 1994 FIX has an international reputation for presenting emerging and established national and international artists. The seventh edition of this festival has evolved its programme to over three weeks with focus on expanding collaborative, investigative artworks that engages with the notions of what is public and live. FIX07 seeks to engage audiences with challenging performances and interventions to explore new approaches and open dialogues.

LANDSCAPE'S FIRST LECTURE: 'OLYMPIC MASTERPLANNING 2012'

You are cordially invited to the first lecture in the play THE Landscape programme. This is the first in a series of four lectures on people, play, recreation, design and the landscape. 'Play THE Landscape’s' first lecture: ‘Olympic Masterplanning 2012’ will be presented by Jason Prior, Managing Director of EDAW.

TOWARDS A BETTER FUTURE: DIALOGUE, NEGOTIATION, COLLABORATION, PARTICIPATION

Half Day workshop
Dates: 6th December 2007
Venue: Interface, Level E, School of Art and Design,
Board Room 82 E04, York Street, Belfast.
Opening Times: 10-2 pm

The MA Art in Public is being established as result of the identification of fundamental challenges to the model of art and the hierarchies of value in contemporary civil society under the influence of globalisation and digitalisation. It responds proactively to the pressing need for the development of advanced, up-to-date transferable and subject-specific skills, applicable knowledge and professional experience that promote a sustained as well as pioneering commitment to interactive, socially and politically engaged creative practices. It recognises the importance of the location of art in the public territory, its cultural and historical as well as social and economical, political and psychological situatedness. A crucial factor for this innovative postgraduate programme is its focus on art practices that centres on templates of practice, which give primacy to the creative process, to dialogue, negotiation, collaboration and participation. It scrutinizes the ways in which those practices produce values and publics, and empower citizens to articulate their interests and actively undertake responsibility in civil society. To do so, the MA programme centres on collaborations with external partners, i.e. NGO’s – community and voluntary art organisations, cultural agencies and art organisations in Belfast and Ireland.
In this first of three half day workshop (the other 2 will be in 2008) partners and students of the MA Art in Public will introduce their organisations and projects. They will have been working together for a number of weeks at this stage, they negotiated roles and contracts. The emphasis is of this workshop is to look at the negotiation process and the defined roles of the artists and the organisation. Organisations from the South and North of Ireland will be present. The role of creative practices as core methods of ‘society empowerment’ will be debated. This workshop and debate is open to the public as it challenges also university structures. It is funded by the Cultural Development Scheme of the UU.