CINEMUSESPACE Exploring People’S Experience, and Understanding Of, Everyday Space
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CINEMUSESPACE Exploring people’s experience, and understanding of, everyday space Suzanne MacLeod, Ceri Jones and Jocelyn Dodd April 2020 1 CONTENTS 1. Introducing CineMuseSpace 3 2. Case Study 1: CineMuseSpace at CFCCA 4 3. CFCCA Findings 12 4. CFCCA Conclusions 34 5. Case Study 2: CineMuseSpace at Port Sunlight 37 6. Port Sunlight Findings 46 7. Port Sunlight Conclusions 63 8. Conclusions 60 Appendix 1: List of participants, CFCCA case study 63 Appendix 2: CineMuseSpace at CFCCA, visitor questions 67 and prompts Appendix 3: List of participants, Port Sunlight case study 68 Appendix 4: Port Sunlight, questions and prompts 69 Front cover: Timeline artwork made by CineMuseSpace based on the film Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005). 2 1 Introducing CineMuseSpace Project aims and ambitions prompt reflection on how this differs across cultures. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) CineMuseSpace: A Cinematic Following an opening Workshop to this phase of Musée Imaginaire of Spatial Cultural Differences was the project and involving all partners (the led by François Penz, School of Architecture, Cambridge and Leicester teams as well as the University of Cambridge, Suzanne MacLeod, cultural organisations), two very different School of Museum Studies, University of approaches were developed towards public Leicester, and Andong Lu, Nanjing University. engagement:2 The project was framed by the premise that cinema can be ‘construed as a form of spatial 1. An installation as part of the Future Cities: ethnography’ in which films make visible ‘how Technopolis and Everyday Life exhibition at the we live, love, work and sleep in buildings’.1 Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art Through the creation of a database of cinematic (CFCCA) in Manchester; images from films representative of the Western ‘naturalism’ tradition (Europe, USA) and the 2. A creative and participatory process, drawing Eastern ‘analogism’ tradition (China, Japan), the on the concepts and themes of the research, aim of the project was to enable the cross- with the residents of Port Sunlight, to make a cultural study of everyday spaces and activities film about their everyday lives. (eating, sitting, bathing, cleaning), and explore the ways in which different cultural experiences Qualitative research, designed, carried out and in the East and West might impact on the way in analysed by researchers from the Research which we conceive of, inhabit, and design, Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG), everyday space. University of Leicester, was undertaken for each approach. The research captured the reflections and thoughts of visitors to the CFCCA and Engaging the public with CineMuseSpace participants in the project at Port Sunlight, including residents and representatives from the A key component of CineMuseSpace was a desire key stakeholders involved, National Museums to engage the public with the concepts and ideas Liverpool (NML) and Port Sunlight Village of the research; to get people thinking about our Trust (PSVT). The findings from this research everyday practices, how we use space, and to are set out in this report. 1 Taken from A Cinematic Home of the Everyday, Leaflet about 2 An exhibition was also organised in China at the Shanghai – the exhibition by University of Cambridge and Centre for Chinese NextMixing Gallery – March/April 2019. Contemporary Art. See Case Study 1 in this report. 3 2 CASE STUDY 1: Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA), Manchester CineMuseSpace at CFCCA CFCCA – a snapshot The Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art CineMuseSpace was developed as one element of (CFCCA) is a unique art gallery based in the exhibition, Future Cities: Technopolis and Manchester, which has the second largest Everyday Life (2 August - 19 October 2019), Chinese community in the UK.3 The gallery has shown at the Centre for Chinese Contemporary been working with emerging and established Art (CFCCA) in Manchester. In this exhibition, artists for over thirty years to provide a ‘space for visitors were invited to reflect on the way in conversation, debate and cross cultural exchange’ which our use of, interaction and relationship and explore ‘relevant global issues from different with, everyday space may evolve in the light of international perspectives.’4 With its beginnings changing technologies, physical geography of in a festival for the Chinese artistic community, cities, natural resources and domestic the Centre opened in 1989. It moved to its environments. A research study captured the current location – a RIBA award-winning former responses of visitors to the galleries – a 19th century market building that incorporates predominantly young, educated and digitally elements of Chinese architecture within the aware demographic – through interviews, focus design – in 2003. With its ambition to be a groups, and opportunities provided in-gallery, to ‘future-facing’ organisation and host a answer the following, over-arching question: ‘challenging and innovative exhibition programme showcasing the very best of How does the project/intervention 5 generate insights, understandings and contemporary Chinese art,’ the CFCCA includes awareness of our everyday environments two (free to enter) gallery spaces, an artist-in- and the routines that shape our lives? residence project space, archive and library, education and events suite, and shop. Many rich and interesting themes emerged from visitor responses including: what shapes our personal relationships with everyday space; the role of the exhibition in highlighting cultural difference (and same-ness); the limitations of film in reflecting the ‘reality’ of our experiences with the everyday; and speculation around how these elements may evolve in the future. 3 Arts about Manchester, 2009, Chinese Arts Centre: Visitor / 4 ‘About Us’, http://cfcca.org.uk/what-we-do/about- Audience Research, report prepared for the Chinese Arts Centre:3 us/ [retrieved 05 10 2019] 5 Arts about Manchester, 2009: 3-4 4 Part of a vibrant cultural scene in the Northern known and may be challenging for first time Quarter visitors to access.11 As part of the up-and-coming Northern Quarter, Exhibition Future Cities: Technopolis & Everyday the CFCCA exists alongside a range of quirky and Life independent galleries, bars, cafes, and shops that Future Cities: Technopolis & Everyday Life was attracts a young and culturally diverse audience.6 shown from 2 August-19 October 2019, with Recognised nationally and internationally as a artworks by Chiawei Hsu, Lawrence Lek, Zheng ‘vibrant, inclusive and outward-looking city,’7 Mahler, and Liam Young. The exhibition over the past two decades Manchester has seen explored how evolving technologies have ‘unprecedented population growth’ particularly affected our interactions with the physical around the city centre and surrounding areas. The geography of cities, natural resources, and city is home to many diverse communities and domestic environments (Figures 1, 2 and 3). welcomes people ‘from across the world.’8 For the CineMuseSpace contribution, four films CFCCA visitors tend to be young, educated and were selected from the CineMuseSpace project: working in the creative industries Cinematic Timelines of the Everyday (2019), Garden Stroll: Illusive Realm (2018), Keep Cool – The The CFCCA is a relatively small gallery, visited by Augmented Hutong Reality Experiment (2019) and nearly 27,500 people in 2018-19. Because of its Cinematic Home of the Everyday (2019).12 The space Northern Quarter location it attracts a mainly was ‘creatively divided by stenciled lines on the young, educated audience; in 2018-19, 60 per cent floor to represent different rooms of a traditional of visitors were aged 16-34,9 and tended to be house’13 with a different film shown in each more ethnically diverse than the wider north-west ‘room’ of the ‘home’ (Figure 1). Robert, a region.10 A significant amount of visitors work in participant from the CFCCA visitor study focus the creative industries, arts education, are group, commented that experiencing the students or artists. Focus groups with new and exhibition was ‘almost [like being] in a home existing visitors have found that its appeal is space… like watching TV.’ linked to wanting to understand more about a politically and culturally important country, as well as experiencing Chinese art and culture, although contemporary Chinese art is less well- 6 ‘Northern Quarter,’ 10 Arts about Manchester, 2009: 233 visitor responses were https://www.academyofurbanism.org.uk/northern-quarter/ collected. [retrieved 31 10 2019] 11 The audience agency, 2013, Chinese Arts Centre Branding 7 Manchester City Council, (2019), State of the City Report Focus Groups: Results and Analysis, report prepared for the 2019, Chinese Arts Centre https://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/download/7121/state 12 Exhibition leaflet and description, Future Cities: Technopolis _of_the_city_report_2019_whole_document [retrieved 31 10 &Everyday Life, CFCCA 2019]:15 13 Lisa Habernik, (2019) ’Future Cities: Technopolis and Everyday 8 As above: 8 Life’ https://mancunion.com/2019/09/26/future-cities- 9 audience finder, 2019, Audience Report: ACE Survey report technopolis-everyday-life/ [retrieved 05 10 2019] 2019, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art 2018-2019 data entry. 393 responses were collected from visitors. 5 Figure 1: Future Cities: Technopolis & Everyday Life at CFCCA. Capturing visitor responses to the Over September and October 2019, 30 exhibition interviews were carried out with 43 visitors, singly