Woolston is an artist who works across Installation, Film, Photography and Socially Engaged Practice.
This blog provides a repository for interviews, statements, images & news.
Install Theme

Nantes 2014: Scoping Mission

I’ve just returned from a research trip to France that explored Nantes and the St Nazaire region courtesy of Polly Moseley (Consultant/Producer), the British Council (http://www.britishcouncil.org), Lieu Unique (http://www.lelieuunique.com) and Voyage à Nantes (http://www.levoyageanantes.fr/en/). 

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The concentrated nature of the trip, lasting just a few days, reminded me of how densely layered new experiences can be when one fully commits to the ‘shock of the new’.

“I love going out of my way, beyond what I know, and finding my way back a few extra miles, by another trail, with a compass that argues with the map…nights with strange paintings and floral spreads and cable television that furnish a reprieve from my own biography, when in Benjamin’s terms, I have lost myself though I know where I am. Moments when I say to myself as feet or car clear a crest or round a bend, I have never seen this place before. Times when some architectural detail on vista that has escaped me these many years says to me that I never did know where I was, even when I was home.”

A Field Guide to Getting Lost - Rebecca Solnit 

The Designed and Emergent dancing intensely with each other over the course of just a few days. Psychogeography creating as great an impact upon the experience as the round table discussion with Thomas Heatherwick (http://www.heatherwick.com), Kirsty Lang (BBC) & creatives from the region.  

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The British Council framed the strategic discussions by raising the following themes:

  • arts and culture as drivers of economic and sustainable development 
  • the importance of quality of life and cultural tourism for job creation
  • the role of academic research, especially in the field of marine renewable
  • energies, shared histories, alternative economies and green space 

“Our purpose in designing this event has been to develop and strengthen connections between the UK and the Nantes region, both bilaterally and in wider multilateral projects. We would also like to explore new ways of taking these fledgling partnerships forward, helping them to reach their maximum potential and to gain recognition for the richness that cross-sector collaboration brings to wider society.”

Julia Handelman-Smith. Head of Programmes and Partnerships, British Council France.

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Whilst I realise what I’ve seen and heard, explored and learnt will take weeks and months to digest fully. There are some conclusions that come to mind…

  • Language barriers can fade when a community of 'like minds’ convenes.
  • Funding streams can offer radically different opportunities depending upon the country you are working from, or political climate you are framed by, yet by re-focusing your discussion/collaboration it’s entirely possible to have a sustainable arts practice.  
  • Collaborative practice is innately process driven, therefore the agents involved in 'change-making’ can work in conjunction whilst creating entirely different outcomes. 
  • Installation/intervention creates a puncture point in the fabric of everyday experience and therefore an activation 'space’ for change, conversation, interaction, re-invention. A context for exchange.

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“All that we make and do is shaped by the communities and traditions that contain us, not to mention by money, power, politics, and luck. And even should the artist or scientist think she as extracted herself from the world to stand alone in the studio, a tremendous array of faculties and mind-states may well attend her creativity.”

Common as Air: Revolution, Art and Ownership - Lewis Hyde

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http://www.royal-de-luxe.com/en/pictures-wall/

ABOUT THE BRITISH COUNCIL:

The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide. We are a Royal Charter charity, established as the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. Our 7,000 staff in over 100 countries work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year through English, arts, education and society programmes.