THE PROJECT After The Future 28 September – 21 October 2018 THE PROJECT After The Future 28 September – 21 October 2018 Artists: Nilbar Güreş, Tommy Støckel, Liu Chuang, Yan Wang Preston, Hito Steyerl, Vermeir & Heiremans, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Donald Rodney, Shezad Dawood, Postcommodity, Ryoji Ikeda, Carl Slater, SUPERFLEX, Uriel Orlow, Jane Grant & John Matthias, Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll & Keren Ruki, Chang Jia, Ursula Biemann, Bryony Gillard, Kranemann + Emmett Curated by Tom Trevor 1 Publication + Colophon Contents Contents This book is published on the 4 Introduction occasion of The Atlantic Project 6 Curatorial Statement (28 September – 21 October 2018). 8 Sites & Artists The Atlantic Project 10 Armada Way c/o The Arts Institute University of Plymouth 14 House of Fraser Drake Circus 20 Civic Centre Plymouth PL4 8AA United Kingdom 30 Council House 34 The Dome +44 (0) 1752 584 980 [email protected] 38 Drake’s Island www.theatlantic.org 42 Millennium Building 48 The Clipper 52 KARST 56 Royal William Yard 66 National Marine Aquarium 72 Immersive Vision Theatre 76 Atlantic Platform 80 Events 94 Events Diary 96 Atlantic Project Team 98 Acknowledgements 102 Map CULTURE 2 3 Introduction New Art and New Ideas Horizon The Atlantic Project is a pilot for a new The visual arts in Plymouth are international festival of contemporary art undergoing an exciting period in the South West of England, taking place of change, in the lead-up to the in public contexts and outdoor locations Mayflower 400 anniversary in 2020. across Plymouth, from 28 September 2018. Building on a decade of collaboration between exhibition venues, the Horizon programme is a two-year city-wide Led by Tom Trevor (Artistic Director), the project has development programme (2016-18), led by Plymouth been developed as a core partnership between The Box Culture, which aims to grow the whole of the visual arts (formerly Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery) and the ecology. Developed in close collaboration between Visual University of Plymouth, in the lead-up to the Mayflower Arts Plymouth, KARST, Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth 400 anniversary in 2020. The Atlantic Project in 2018 is College of Art, Plymouth City Council and the University of hosted by The Arts Institute, at the University of Plymouth, Plymouth, outcomes include two Plymouth Art Weekenders, as part of Horizon, a two-year visual arts development the multi-site exhibition, We The People Are The Work programme across the city (2016-18), led by Plymouth (2017), a talent development programme led by Visual Culture, with support from Arts Council England’s ‘Ambition Arts Plymouth, and a series of community engagement for Excellence’ fund and Plymouth City Council. projects. The culmination of the Horizon programme is The Atlantic Project, a pilot for a new international In the build-up to Mayflower 400 in 2020, marking the 400th biennial festival of contemporary art in the public realm. anniversary of the Pilgrims’ voyage from Plymouth to the so-called ‘New World’ in North America, the aim is to test out the elements that will make up a potential new ‘biennial’ festival in the UK. As well as trialling an internationally significant event that will raise the critical profile of visual arts in Plymouth and the region, The Atlantic Project aims to be a highly engaging experience for a wide range of audiences that is relevant and distinctive to the locality. Taking place in unconventional contexts across the city, including a number of locations that have been inaccessible to the public for some years, The Atlantic Project has commissioned new site-specific works by artists of international renown, whilst also providing an open platform for artist-led activities. 4 5 Curatorial Statement After the Future Tom Trevor Plymouth is a city built upon visions As the largest naval base in Western Europe, Plymouth of the future. As a deep-water port, was bombed extensively in WWII and the subsequent city architecture could be said to reflect a succession of facing the Atlantic Ocean, its history is post-war visions of the future, from Soviet-style social bound up with maritime exploration, in housing to European ‘Brutalism’ to American-style free enterprise. With the acceleration of globalisation, the pursuit of the unknown worlds that lie rapid expansion of the digital network society and the over the horizon. From Francis Drake’s prolonged impact of austerity, however, the century-long obsession with the concept of progress that informed this circumnavigation of the globe to Charles modernist reconstruction has seemingly ground to a halt. The Darwin’s voyage of The Beagle, from convergence of multiple worlds that constitute our present times brings together many different currents competing James Cook’s mapping of Australia to the for ascendency, but with no shared vision of the future. voyage of the Mayflower Pilgrims, and Simultaneously, the shift from ‘the modern’ to ‘the the founding of a so-called ‘New World’, contemporary’ has radically changed the conditions for the legacies of such utopian imaginaries experimental arts practice too. Whereas modernism required an avant-garde to constantly critique and refresh it, as have come to define our contemporary a key part of its future-oriented progression, the future- world. Just as the barbaric inhumanity less present of the contemporary can no longer support such a utopian rationale. Without a clear vision of the of the transatlantic slave trade and the future or a shared belief in the continual transformation inequities of British colonialism have of society for the better, the question arises, how will the role of the artist function and change–drifting in shaped the precarious conditions that the wake of utopian imaginaries–after the future? characterize globalization today. 6 7 Sites & Artists Opening times for sites vary. Please check details for each location on the following pages. A number of the project sites have not been open to the public for some years and therefore have limited access. Details are included in the following pages. For further information about opening times and accessibility, please check the website www.theatlantic.org or contact [email protected] / +44 (0) 1752 584 980 8 9 Multiple locations PL1 2HJ Nilbar Güreş Open all hours 28 September–21 October Fully accessible Armada Way The central pedestrian thoroughfare Image in Plymouth’s post-war city centre, constructed as part of Sir Patrick Abercrombie’s ‘Plan for Plymouth’ (1943), was envisaged as a grand “garden vista – a parkway making use, with terraces, slopes, steps, pools, avenues and other contrasting features, of the varying levels”. Today it has become a timeline of different visions of the future, from the 1950s ‘Brutalist’ architecture of post-war reconstruction to the 21st century global brand stores, along with the empty shops of Austerity Britain. 10 11 1 2 3 Armada Way Opposite the Coach Station entrance Place de Brest House of Fraser Windows on the corner of Royal Parade Nilbar Güreş Nilbar Güres, Below Elsewhere’s Palm Trees, 2012 c-print, 120 x 180 cm, Edition of 5 Courtesy of Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna Nilbar Güreş (b. 1977, Istanbul), through Taking her own background – the Kurdish-Alevi culture – her often playful and humorous practice, as a starting point, the places where Güreş develops her projects, the personal interaction with the local people explores female identity, the role of and their multifaceted cultures, are always essential women, the relations between women to her work. During her time in Plymouth she has built a relationship with Devon & Cornwall Refugee Support and their homes, and the public realm, as (DCRS), an organisation providing a safe environment for well as relationships between women. asylum seekers in the city (which is one of five ‘dispersal’ centres for refugees in the UK). She has also developed relations with members of the Kurdish community, which Güreş also focuses on the image of is the second largest minority ethnic group in Plymouth. Muslim women in Europe, racism Out of these particular relationships, Güreş has produced a and what it means to be a migrant series of photographic works made with local participants to be presented as large billboards along Armada Way, today. Her works include painting, playfully exploring the experience of being a displaced collage, video, performance, person in Plymouth, and everyday ‘exoticism’ in the city. photography and found objects. Supported by the SAHA Foundation, Istanbul, and the Austrian Cultural Forum, London. 12 13 Windows 40–46 Royal Parade, Yan Wang Preston, Plymouth, PL1 1DY Nilbar Güreş Opening times Mon 09.00–17.30 Fifth Floor Tues 09.30–17.30 Liu Chuang Wed 09.00–17.30 Thurs 09.00–18.00 Fri 09.00–17.30 Sat 09.00–18.00 Sun 10.30–16.30 28 Sept–21 Oct Fully accessible House of Fraser Originally called Dingles, when it moved to its current premises on Royal Parade this was the first new post-war department store anywhere in the UK, opening on 1 September 1951. It was seen as a sign of a new modern Plymouth– even having the city’s first escalator. A fifth floor was added in 1961 and then a sixth after the fire of 1988 (when it was firebombed by animal activists protesting against the sale of fur). 14 15 3 House of Fraser Windows on Armada Way Yan Wang Preston Yan Wang Preston, Egongyan Park, Chongqing, China, 2017. From Forest series (2010-2017) Courtesy of the artist. Yan Wang Preston (b. 1976, China) In the small village of Xialiu she photographed a three- originally studied clinical medicine, hundred-year-old tree, standing at the centre of a community that was being coerced into moving so that a dam could be working as an anaesthetist for three years built in the river valley.