Celebrating Post War Architecture with photographer James Smith

A Brutal Wilderness copyright James Smith
A Brutal Wilderness copyright James Smith

On the the 5th March 2014 AHA-MK welcomed documentary photographer James Smith to speak at our Forum, below are a few highlights and thinking points from James’ talk.  You can see more of James’ work on his website: http://j-smith.co.uk

With an encyclopaedic knowledge of New Towns and their development, James has completed signature projects in communities such as Corby, Milton Keynes, Hatfield, Luton, and most recently Harlow. Picking out often unnoticed or overlooked architectural detail; James’ photography looks at the cityscape in a brand new way.

James describes himself as a documentary photographer who carries out reconnaissance and research in the urban landscape.  He is particularly interested in the period before regeneration takes place.

By exploring new places from an outsider’s point of view, James feels that he can provide a new perspective on a town or area – being a foreigner in a community or landscape allows an artist to take an objective point of view and to identify stories or aspects that are less obvious, and can be more effective, or moving.

James prefers to shoot on overcast days – providing an anti-subjective viewpoint with neither shadows, nor illumination from sunlight.

James has worked with councils and developers on projects to document change as it happens, to understand communities better and to look at how spaces are designed and used.  These projects have helped communities to come together and aided developers in understanding the social and design challenges of their regeneration projects.

In many cases James has found that his work provides an opportunity for the parties involved in regeneration to take stock and perhaps to realise that although urban landscapes that are deteriorating need to be refurbished, by completely clearing and re-building our heritage is being destroyed.

James’ interest in post-war architecture and design principles has led him to work in new towns and his work clearly shows the different stages of construction and phases of new town buildings.  It is now possible to see several generations of new town in the urban landscape of one area, providing interesting documentation of how these different architectural styles interact.

The image above is from Milton Keynes, and shows the ongoing fight of nature to exist and thrive in urban areas.  With the continuous growth and development planned for Milton Keynes, James’ work suggests that the city might benefit from a process of documentation to collect and collate the changes that are being implemented now.  There is a wealth of information relating to Milton Keynes’ early development, but how much is being captured now?

Highlights from Chairs Note March 2014

Arts Council Grant awarded

It was great to be able to announce at this week’s Forum that AHA has been awarded just under £30,000 by the Arts Council for our “MK Audiences” project. This is part of the Arts Council’s “Audience Finder” initiative launched over a year ago, which Adrienne Pye of the Audience Agency told us about at an AHA meeting in November 2012, with a view to creating an “MK cluster” within this national initiative.

New AHA website

Thanks to all of you who commented on the pilot version of the new AHA website recently circulated. The response was generally very positive, thanks to the enormous amount of work that has been put in. Suggestions have been taken on board wherever possible, and the new website will hopefully go live next week. The address is unchanged: http://www.aha-mk.org.

Discussions with thecentre:MK

Thanks to all those who sent in ideas of eventsexhibitions/activities AHA members might wish to mount in thecentre:MK. We took the whole list for discussion with the centre last week. They seemed impressed with many of the ideas and very positive about offering opportunities in the centre, and are due to get back to us next week.

Registering AHA as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Following the preparation of a draft for the Charities Commission, and discussion of this at our January AHA meeting, we have now made the formal submission to the CC. The process thereafter may take as little as a month, but it might be significantly longer.

Guardian profile for MK

In case it hasn’t reached you by other routes, Monica Ferguson did an interview with The Guardian earlier this week: see http://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/2014/mar/04/monica-ferguson-stables-milton-keynes-festival.

Midsummer Boulevard workshop

Many thanks to our Vice-Chair, who participated, on AHA’s behalf, in a 3-day workshop at the beginning of February, the aim of which was to produce a blueprint for developing the eastern end of Midsummer Boulevard. No doubt there’ll be a report on the outcomes in due course: we’ll keep you posted.

Lobbying MK Council on their 2014/15 budget

Thanks to those AHA members who commented in response to my request for responses to MKC’s budget proposals, and especially to those who took the trouble to write to the Council.

Member News/Opportunities

Voluntary work wanted: Raihana Sohrabi is looking for voluntary work as a junior accountant to gain experience. Currently studying AAT level 3. E-mail raihana.ahmad03@gmail.com.

First artist call-out for 2014 Festival Fringe: Information is attached. Please feel free to share this with friends, contacts, networks, etc. Contact Anita Allen anita@mkfestivalfringe.com or on 07952 237421 for an application form. http://mkfestivalfringe.com/callouts/