Wirksworth Festival: Calls for Proposals for Commissioned Programme
Thematically Wirksworth Festival will continue to explore the relationship between Art & Architecture, and over the next three years we want to explore the nature, meanings and uses (past, present, actual and potential) of buildings | indoor and outdoor space | public and private space in a number of ways:
1. Pavilion Programme.
A call to architects and designers interested in proposing a temporary structure (a Pavilion) for Wirksworth. The Pavilion will occupy a public space in the town for at least a three-week period and function as a temporary exhibition space. There will be three pavilions in the three years of the programme.
2. [Im]Possible Wirksworth:
An inventory of unrealised ideas. The Pavilion will contain concept designs, fly-through graphics, maquettes etc, from architects, designers, artists, proposing exciting and radical new buildings, remodelling of existing buildings, uses of unusual and problematic sites, particularly spaces which have been left between buildings (yards, alleys ...) giving them meaning and/or function (actual or apparent) wholesale remodelling of the town (for example Harrison Drive was created in 1940 by the demolition of buildings in the Market Place to create a new access route for quarry traffic through the town; should this be replaced and if so how and why? What other radical future remodeling of the town might be proposed in the next year/decade/millennium in the light of globalization, climate change, and future economics and lifestyles?)
Some of these projects may be realised as part of the commissioned programme.
3. Site-specific/Site-responsive commissions.
This will be complemented by extending the site-specific and site-responsive art commissioning programme, so we are now seeking proposals for interventions in spaces in the town, whether sculptural, architectural, projected (including film, interactive work and 3D motion graphics) or performative.
4. Film and Moving Image.
A new strand to the Festival is film/artists' film and video, with an architecture themed short film salon for 2010, and the potential for projection works which interact with, intervene in or respond to architecture.
Background
Find a brief history of Wirksworth on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirksworth. Also visit www.wirksworth.org.uk
(especially - http://www.wirksworth.org.uk/HOUSES.htm, http://www.wirksworth.org.uk/HMAP.htm, http://www.wirksworth.org.uk/B85-HARR.htm)
Wirksworth is home to Wirksworth Festival, which is currently developing its contemporary visual arts programme, and aspires to become the leading rural Festival of contemporary art in the UK. A key feature of the Festival is the Art & Architecture Trail (together with the Makers Market and Wirksworth Windows), which places artwork in over 70 domestic venues throughout the town and takes place over a single weekend. This callout is not for the Trail (the application process for this will be launched shortly through our website), but is for our commissioned programme, which will run for the duration of the Festival – 10 September to 25 September 2010.
Wirksworth lies in a natural bowl, which in palaeolithic times was filled by a tropical ocean, which is the source of the limestone quarried all around.
Looking at the Google Maps image of Wirksworth it appears to be characterised more by absence than presence; the surface area of the quarries ringing the town is greater than that of the town, and what has been extracted (stone, lead…) is greater than what has been created.
The town has an organic and random accretion of historical layers: the extraction of lead by the Romans; the rise of the textile industry with Richard Arkwright in the vanguard; Haarlem Mill, famously the source of the red tape to bind government and legal papers; and the quarrying of limestone, still happening at Dean Quarry between Wirksworth and Cromford. The Haarlem Mill has a fictional as well as an actual presence, as the model for George Elliot’s Mill on the Floss, and Snowfield from Elliot’s Adam Bede is said to be based on Wirksworth, home to Elliot’s aunt. Adam Bede cottage lies close to Haarlem Mill, and the name is variously applied (somewhat curiously in the case of Adam Bede Car Sales). Another literary connection is with D H Lawrence, who stayed for a time at Mountain Cottage near Middleton-by-Wirksworth, where he wrote the short story The Wintry Peacock (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22477/22477-8.txt).
Wirksworth is an architecturally interesting town, with significant buildings from every historical period:
“Within Wirksworth Conservation Area there are 991 buildings, of which 90 are listed entries. Of the listed entries St. Mary’s Church is listed Grade I. Babington House, 35 Green Hill; 15 Market Place; The Gate House, Gate House Drive; 1 Coldwell Street; The Red Lion Hotel, Market Place and the Former Grammar School on Church Street are all listed Grade II*. The remainder are all listed Grade II. The listed buildings in Wirksworth range from commercial premises to town houses, from manor houses to chapels and from milestones to bollards. All are recognised for the contribution they make both individually and to the street-scene.” (http://www.derbyshiredales.gov.uk/planning_and_building_control/conserva...)
Submitting Proposals
1. Pavilion Programme.
This architectural competition is open to architects (whether individuals of practices), architecture students and others who can demonstrate that they have an imaginative concept and the ability and experience to realise their proposal. If you would like to discuss your proposal before submitting you should contact David Gilbert at Wirksworth Festival (E: info@davidgilbert.org.uk).
* Your proposal should be clearly marked Wirksworth Pavilion Programme.
* Your proposal should ideally be submitted in digital form to info@wirksworthfestival.co.uk (though we are also happy to accept models and maquettes) and contain visuals of the proposed structure, together with examples of previous projects or links to previous work on websites.
* You should – if possible - identify potential sites (or the types of site in which you are interested) in or around the town.
* You should provide us with a narrative explaining the rationale behind your proposal, the material, method of construction and function of the structure, and deal with practical issues such as stability, security, weatherproofing, display within and/or from the structure, erection of the structure and cost.
* You should include a c.v. or company profile.
Deadline for submission of proposals: 9am, Monday 5 April 2010.
2. [Im]Possible Wirksworth: An inventory of unrealised ideas.
We are calling for proposals from artists, architects, designers, and other creatives who would like to propose radical architectural projects for Wirksworth: from the realistic and realisable to the impossibly Utopian; from the individual site to the entirety of the town.
We are no longer living in the 19th Century. We want to explore ideas that explode the nostalgic vernacularism of Wirksworth by critiquing it, attacking it, undermining it, subverting it. We want to imagine possible future Wirksworths rather than simply yearning for an idealized past and taking the path of sympathetic rapprochement. We are interested in the unexpected and the unlikely.
The Pavilion will contain:
* concept designs
* fly-through graphics
* maquettes etc.
from architects, designers, artists, proposing:
* exciting and radical new buildings
* remodelling of existing buildings
* uses of unusual and problematic sites, particularly spaces which have been left between buildings (yards, alleys ...) giving them meaning and/or function (actual or apparent)
* wholesale remodelling of the town
If you would like to discuss your proposal before submitting you should contact David Gilbert at Wirksworth Festival (E: info@davidgilbert.org.uk).
* Your proposal should be clearly marked [Im]Possible Wirksworth: An inventory of unrealised ideas
* Your proposal should ideally be submitted in digital form to info@wirksworthfestival.co.uk (though we are also happy to accept models and maquettes) and contain visuals of the proposed project, together with examples of previous work or links to previous work on websites.
* You should – if possible - identify potential sites (or the types of site in which you are interested) in or around the town which you are responding to.
* You should provide us with a narrative explaining the rationale behind your proposal, the material, method of construction and function of the structure.
* If you are proposing a project which you hope will be realised you should also deal with practical issues such as installation, stability, security, weatherproofing and cost.
* You should also include a c.v.
Deadline for submission of proposals: 9am, Monday 22 March 2010.
3. Site-specific/Site-responsive commissions.
As in 2009 we are seeking proposals for site-specific and site-responsive artworks responding to, intervening with, or about real or imaginary architecture, so we are now seeking proposals for indoor and outdoor interventions in spaces in the town, whether sculptural, architectural, projected (including film, interactive work and 3D motion graphics) or performative.
If you would like to discuss your proposal before submitting you should contact David Gilbert at Wirksworth Festival (E: info@davidgilbert.org.uk).
* Your proposal should be clearly marked Site-specific/Site-responsive commissions.
* Your proposal should ideally be submitted in digital form to info@wirksworthfestival.co.uk (though we are also happy to accept models and maquettes) and contain visuals of the proposed project, together with examples of previous work or links to previous work on websites.
* You should – if possible - identify potential sites (or the types of site in which you are interested) in or around the town which you are responding to.
* You should provide us with a narrative explaining the rationale behind your proposal, the materials, method of construction, and function (if any) of the work.
* You should also deal with practical issues such as installation, stability, security, weatherproofing and cost.
* You should also include a c.v.
Deadline for submission of proposals: 9am, Monday 22 March 2010.
4. Film and Moving Image.
A new strand to the Festival is film/artists' film and video, with two opportunities to participate:
4A: An architecture themed short film salon for 2010
Film-makers and artists working with film and video are invited to submit short films (no more than 10 minutes in duration) for the salon. Films should deal with architecture and/or the built environment in some way and can be of any kind – fiction, documentary, experimental, live action, animation, 3D motion graphics … they need only be interesting. Submit your work for selection on DVD together with a short written proposal and c.v.
Deadline for submission of proposals: 9am, Monday 22 March 2010.
4B: Projection works which interact with, intervene in or respond to architecture.
Film-makers and artists working with film and video or interactive media are invited to submit existing or proposed films or other works for showing as projections or installations. Works should interact with, intervene in or respond to architecture (real or imaginary) in some way and can be of any kind - live action, animation, 3D motion graphics, interactive media. Submit your proposal as a short narrative, or if you propose showing existing work submit it on DVD. Please also send examples of previous work, either on DVD or links to your website, together with a c.v.
Deadline for submission of proposals: 9am, Monday 22 March 2010.
