The Shape of Things to Come: A Bid for Manifesta in Cornwall
Cornwall may not be known as a contemporary art hot-spot but a dedicated visual arts community is tirelessly working to put Cornwall on the art map, attracting attention from the likes of Manifesta. Axis artist Alison Sharkey reports on the unexpected developments and future plans that are emerging from this beautiful region
Alison Sharkey
An unexpected spotlight has been thrown on Cornwall in recent months, leaving many of us here blinking in the glare and rather bamboozled by a whirlwind of meetings, forums and consultations. Just before Christmas an extraordinary rumour started to circulate that Cornwall was considering putting itself forward as the UK bid for the 2012 Manifesta [1] - a peripatetic über European art show. Over the last few months the usual questions, debates and arguments that float around in pubs, parties and openings have suddenly been taken seriously, recorded and noted down from those on high, feeding a bid process that is breathtakingly huge and ambitious. Over three million pounds would need to be raised just to put Cornwall in the running.
Contemporary art activity in Cornwall over the last few years has been increasingly animated with a proliferation of artist led projects typified by More Cornwall in 2007 [2] large scale exhibitions like Revolver [3] and international festival Live Art Falmouth, [4]new project space Urbanomics [5], the expansion of Newlyn Gallery, the opening of The Exchange and the appointment of a new young director of Tate St Ives to name but a few. But for many artists in Cornwall, they can be frustrated by the pressure exerted from its art historical past, a geographical landscape laden with memorialising heritage projects and the tension of a Cornwall romanticised as tourist resort as opposed to cultural hotbed. Projects can be hindered by a lack of validation and endorsement that can haunt rural arts activity. Manifesta has offered a tantalising glimpse of a transformational shift to create what it declares as ‘a synergy between the local and the global and to create the basis for a new approach to contemporary reality.’ [6] The debate and dialogue initiated by our interest in Manifesta illuminates a shared and urgent ambition to shift how we define Cornwall’s reality and raises the question of how to sustain the momentum.
Sovay Berriman, More Cornwall, 2007
The last few months have seen a laying bare of our visions, understandings and definitions of what we are doing here and how we relate to the place in which we live and work. At this moment a feasibility study commissioned by Arts Council England is being compiled, absorbing these public confessionals as part of its gathering of evidence, to ascertain whether a Cornwall bid is ultimately worth the investment. In addition to this process of generating ideas and suggestions for the overall Manifesta bid, much of the conversation has focussed on the Manifesta ‘parallel programme’ (or ‘fringe’) as this is the most obvious way for a local art scene to grasp some kind of autonomy.
'...for many artists in Cornwall, they can be frustrated by the pressure exerted from its art historical past, a geographical landscape laden with memorialising heritage projects and the tension of a Cornwall romanticised as tourist resort as opposed to cultural hotbed.'
Fringe
We can write into the bid what is important to us, whether that be the commissioning of work that engages with the environment and sustainability, ‘embeds’ in the local community, develops a local audience, expands opportunities for local artists: ultimately though it will depend on the invited curators and their vision. The anticipated creation of a ‘fringe’ has irked some, sensing a dynamic that leaves local activity as mere embellishment. But in many ways the large public galleries of Newlyn, Tate St Ives and the commissioning agency ProjectBase, who have an established international profile, will also be on the ‘fringe’ as Manifesta asserts that it ‘strives to stay at a distance from the dominant centres of artistic production’. [7]
If the aim of Manifesta is to achieve a significant impact on the region it inhabits the involvement of a strong local art community will be invaluable, whether by initiating projects before and after the 100 days of Manifesta or by enabling artists and curators to develop links across Europe and so forge networks and connections that will continue to gather momentum for the region long after the Manifesta ship has set sail and manifested elsewhere.
Artists picnic and talk at the event Unity Wood, 2007, More Cornwall
It might be clear to artists what their significance in this process is but there is still a distinct nervousness in the air. If the bid is successful the ensuing rush to develop a Manifesta programme may see long-term approaches to the region’s cultural development jettisoned. There is also a suspicion that individuals may struggle to get the most out of the process, a sense that artists may get drunk on the heady party of Manifesta optimism only to find when they throw themselves into the pool its only three inches deep. This requires artists to clarify exactly what support they need and to then determinedly lobby for it to be put in place from the outset of the bidding process.
"A Manifesta show will come up against many of the challenges that Cornwall based artists have been grappling with for some time including distances, audiences and transport infrastructures."
Steven Paige & Michael Donnelly, Plan & Action, 2008
Rural Challenges
A Manifesta show will come up against many of the challenges that Cornwall based artists have been grappling with for some time including distances, audiences and transport infrastructures. One of the most fundamental of these issues is the large expanse of space in Cornwall. The contemporary art scene tends to move in a sealed triangle between Falmouth where the art college is based, the district of Penwith where Tate St Ives, Newlyn Gallery and The Exchange are located, and more inspirationally than in reality at present, Redruth, with the recently added development of Krowji which provides studio spaces and office space for artists and arts organisations. The distances between activities and a dispersed peer audience can be an obstacle in creating a sense of a shared community. The intimacy of the art scene here is perhaps similar to regional cities, where the different art strata continually intermingle yet we remain circumspect to the notion of this community acting as a combined force. Interestingly, recent Manifesta meetings threw up panic amongst some with a suggestion that the developing pitch favoured the bypassing of Penwith, the traditional seat of artist activity, to be located instead in the unknown hinterland of North Cornwall. This concern appeared to stem from the belief that for Manifesta to harness what we already have and impact on Cornwall’s art scene it would need to be located where there is already signs of life, amongst a ready made audience of peers, rather then transplant itself into what is often perceived as the creative cadaver of North Cornwall.
Birgit Salling Hansen, Both And Or, 2008
P-Hive Collective, People Purge Plastic, 2008
Leaving behind the kunsthalle
Much of the initial early excitement around possibilities for Manifesta centred on a model of distributed, scattered projects that dispensed with the traditional notion of the kunsthalle model, a single housing facility for art. Many artists and curators here have asserted that by not creating this mirage of centralised activity, Manifesta could truly grapple with the needs and potential of Cornwall and test a model of sustainability that deliberately departs from the familiar centralised urban model that will always elude a rural region of this size. Manifesta declares that it searches ‘for fertile grounds for the mapping of new directions, curatorial practices, exhibition models and education.’ [8] An investment rising to this challenge in Cornwall would leave a legacy far more useful and inspiring than the production of a super art shed destined to join the empty shells of previous ambitious creative centres funded by once free flowing regeneration money. The aspiration voiced by many, to open up dialogue between the local and the global, necessitates a model of dispersal in a rural area the size of Cornwall, expanding existing connections rather than chasing the ideal of the art hub whether permanent or ephemeral.
Increasingly conversations and debates position Cornwall as no longer a peninsula of the UK resigned to the steady stream of departures of interesting artists, leaving Cornwall like the pull of an outgoing tide. We are now being encouraged to stand at the edge of the land, turn our back to the rest of the UK and look out towards Europe; a jumping off point to the vast expanse of the international art scene. There is no such thing as a ‘local artist’ declared one artist at a Cornwall Manifesta meeting held recently in London. ‘We are all international’. This rallying cry sums up a growing preoccupation with connectedness and the desire to be a global player, sharing Manifesta’s ambition to create and participate in ‘an ever expanding, proactive international network’[9]. It echoes Nicholas Serota after the opening of The Exchange in 2007 who declared ‘We need to re-centre Cornwall so its not seen as being at the end of the line, …It isn't about the end of something its actually a part of something else.’[10]
Manifesta may be the key to shifting others and our own perception of Cornwall as no longer being at the end of the line. Whether Manifesta comes to Cornwall or not in 2012, the next few years and beyond is an opportunity for artists, curators, galleries, arts organisations and funders to develop Cornwall into a base that can be exciting and thriving to return to. Resorting to surfing cliché, it’s tempting to suggest that for artists to catch the Manifesta wave that could hit Cornwall in 2012, we need to accelerate how we collaborate, initiate and promote what we do individually and collectively. And if Manifesta doesn’t materialise it can only be a good thing that we are moving with more energy and ambition than we were before.
Notes
[1] www.manifesta.org
[2] MORE was a series of diverse artist-led projects across Cornwall, throughout the summer of 2007. It was built upon momentum generated from previous artist-led successes in the region. It was funded by sponsorship and fees from members, who proliferated into an active countywide network. www.artcornwall.org/feature%20more%20v%20social%20systems.htm (accessed 25 April 2009)
[3] www.revolver-art.org/index.html (accessed 25 April 2009)
[4] www.liveartfalmouth.com (accessed 25 April 2009)
[5] www.urbanomic.com
[6] www.manifesta.org/index.asp?m=manifesta (accessed 25 April 2009)
[7] ibid
[8] ibid
[9] ibid
[10] www.artcornwall.org/features/Nicholas_Serota.htm (accessed 25 April 2009)
Further information:
www.newlynartgallery.co.uk
www.tate.org.uk/stives
www.projectbase.org.uk
www.urbanomic.com
www.revolver-art.org
www.morecornwall.org
www.liveartfalmouth.com
www.artcornwall.org
www.manifesta.org/index1.html
www.krowji.co.uk
