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This strategy is the result of considerable consultation with transport Whilst it is driven by the best international artistic practice, community
operators, regulators, planners, artists and communities. The central ideas engagement and local ownership is at the heart of the strategy. The
emerging from this process and tested at a forum held in Manchester in programme will build capacity in the community to commission, and in
July 2009. The overwhelming view was one of support for the ideas in some cases, make the art itself.
the strategy plus the promise of on going support and participation.
Collective thinking will be a driving force when implementing the strategy. The plan is to create a linear series of artworks along a bus, train or tram
route. It will be an annual 365 day Route Festival. At the end of the year
Transported is the Arts Strategy for GMPTE. It is a bold and innovative the festival will rotate to another route so that within 5 years all local
strategy that disrupts existing notions of ‘public art’ and creates a authorities will have been involved.
platform to all art forms to connect, communicate, collaborate and
innovate across the region. Transported is the working title for the Passengers and Communities
strategy. It combines the roles of public transport which transports us The artworks will be partly curated by the community with the help of
physically and art which transports us metaphorically - to another place. professionals. Guest curators will also be selecting different strands of
the scheme. Operators and partners will work together to develop these
The Public Transport system is ‘the great connector’ and the ideal vehicle themes with the artists.
to bring the arts to the people and people to the arts.
The Strategy provides a rationale for not building one iconic structure
(e.g. Angel of the North) and also recommends moving away from
permanent commissions in favour of temporary art that should only be
made permanent through public demand.
Implementation
To take this Strategy and make it happen will require a 6-month
development period. During this time a number of tasks need to be
undertaken. These include: Partnership Development; Community
Consultation; Curator and Artist Competition, Interactive on-line hub;
Route Selection; Funding Development and detailed 3 year Delivery Plan.
Public Art now can mean anything from the great icons, such as The
Angel of the North, to school railings designed by pupils.
Over the last thirty years there has been a growing desire on the part of
commissioners to include the public in a consultation process which can
include voting on the best proposals from a shortlist to a full engagement
of the community in a participatory process. They believe that through
this involvement they will achieve for the local community a sense of
This Strategy suggests that a new approach to public ownership which will help them to cherish the work and thus secure its
longevity both physically and artistically.
art is required and that GMPTE can be pioneers in
this.
The White Room | Transported Art Strategy | 9 of 38
This process, though earnest, is fundamentally flawed and frequently
results in the lowest common denominator of what the work may have
been.
There may be one exception to this failure rate. The Dream, created by
Spanish artist Jaume Plensa in St Helens. Recently unveiled to great
acclaim even this has problems. The Highways Authority has not allowed
its light effects to be used in case it distracts drivers. The Dream was one
of nine projects commissioned as part of the Channel 4 Big Art Project.
Only two of these have been realised which once again highlights the
problems facing large iconic art. We believe that The Dream may well be
the last large-scale £1m plus artwork to be commissioned for some time.
Nelson’s Column was seen as a great triumph for public art in its time, but it
often goes unnoticed today. In the near ground The Fourth Plinth points to a
different approach to public art with its changing exhibits.
The reasons for engaging communities are sound and not in question. It
is the methods that are at fault. The confusion occurs somewhere
“The end of the line” (A brief encounter)
between the funding body, commissioner, artist and the community itself.
In the worst case the artist engages the community in providing either
the imagery or worse, actual drawings as typified by the laser cut steel For example, Network Rail’s commission “The End of the Line (A Brief
fencing incorporating drawings by local children. Here the participants Encounter)” transformed Piccadilly station for a day with specially
have not really engaged with the final piece and although for a while commissioned music from The RNCM performed by 200 musicians in
there maybe some satisfaction in the contribution, it is only token the station. The musical installation was about the anonymity of travel and
involvement. all those relationships that begin and end in railway stations. The piece
The Strategy gives GMPTE a Vision and working plan to deliver arts
projects throughout 10 local authorities over a 5 then 10 year period.
Transported will identify a linear series of artworks along Bus, Tram and
Train routes; these will be audible and visible on or from the bus, trams
and trains. These works will involve community participation and will be
led by artists. Other works by professional artists will punctuate the
route and serve as inspiration for visitors, passengers and communities.
There needs to be an online line hub for the communication and It will need curating and those curators should be temporary. It will need
delivery of much of this work. This could work with PLINGS or Ding a Advisory Board acting as custodians of the vision and it will need
Ding or indeed with the main GMPTE site. Further work needs to be careful Project Management year-on-year.
undertaken to scope these options.
The Project Managers need to secure funding, recruit one or more
Route Options Curators for the route. they then, in turn would be responsible for
The 59, which travels through 5 local authorities, is a possible first route. recruitment of artists and the artists responsible for the engagement with
The route take 90 minutes to travel the full length starting in the city communities.
centre, out through Cheetham Hill, Crumpsall, Middleton, Mills Hill,
Chadderton, Oldham, Heyside, Shaw and Rushcroft. The route can be The Programme needs to engage passengers and residents in a range of
viewed at Appendix III. communities along the way. The routes meander from sedate affluent
suburb to inner city urban mettle and finally the city centre itself. Those
Another option would be the 22 route which travels from Stockport, communities will have different wants and needs, different demographics
through Heaton Moor and Heaton Norris, Burnage, Chorlton, Stretford, different opportunities and challenges. The diversity of the routes and the
Urmston, The Trafford Centre, Eccles, Monton, Swinton, Pendlebury, communities along them should not be underestimated.
Farnworth and on to Bolton. The route can be viewed at Appendix IV. The project will be driven and punctuated by experimental professional
art, will involve all art forms and will encourage active participation from
The current extension to the Metrolink could also be included for local people and travelers alike.
consideration. A map of the current and proposed routes are shown at
Appendix V. At its heart it will embrace competition, collaboration and public
engagement. It will drive a public debate. It will deliver outcomes across
The Process education, innovation regeneration and audience development. It will
The Vision is that all art commissioned for the network should be engage media partners to challenge and stimulate a public art debate.
temporary unless it is made permanent by popular demand. And it will be popular, tapping into the zeitgeist to give communities an
opportunity to adopt and make permanent the temporary interventions
This is an ambitious project that will involve artists, communities, that artists and communities make.
operating companies, regulators, public and private sector partners.
It will need investment but will also establish opportunities for income
generation. It will embrace both competition and collaboration creating
Platform for Art in London has a core budget of £500k per annum
supported by a ‘substantial annual grant’ from the Arts Council
depending upon the project.