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?

Join us on the 5th March…

…for ‘Celebrating our Post-War Architectural Heritage’ with James Smith and ‘Learning About Commissioning’ with Richard Hollinshead at City Discovery Centre (MK13 9AP) on 5th March.

Download the AHA Flyer 05 03 14 for full details.

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. 

Richard currently acts as Public Art Officer for Milton Keynes Council (during Louise Izod’s maternity leave), and is Senior Lecturer in Sculpture and Spatial Practice at the University of Northampton. His talk will focus on the use a small number of case studies to open a discussion about the commissioning of public art for heritage sites.

Members meeting starts at 10am, for non-members James will begin at 11.15am.  Lunch is included.

Please RSVP to: aha-mk@milton-keynes.gov.uk

Made in MK 2013 Highlights

Black Feathers MK Arts Centre

  • Made in MK took place between 28th June and 15th September 2013.
  • Through this project the Arts and Heritage Alliance – Milton Keynes (AHA-MK) provided the collective marketing umbrella for 150 events across the Borough of Milton Keynes – these included workshops and courses, exhibitions, dance, heritage activities, performance and fringe activity in the public realm.
  • Activities were delivered by over 40 organisations from AHA-MK and Milton Keynes Heritage Association (MKHA) membership and beyond.
  • Over this three-month period Made in MK attracted nearly 50,000 attendees.
  • MK Festival Fringe, Proms in the Park and the Arts and Culture Festival (in Campbell Park) all recorded increased audiences in comparison to last year
  • AHA-MK commissioned five new artworks, designed to celebrate Milton Keynes, which were displayed in and around the city centre during the summer
  • Through working with media partners MKFM and MK Citizen we ensured that Made in MK received significant press coverage and Destination Milton Keynes hosted all our listings online.

The level of collaboration and co-operation shown by our members and partners continues to impress us – we are working hard to make this process as easy as possible.  SoC 2012 was a pioneering year, which proved to the sectors the value of working together on a large-scale joint venture and Made in MK has allowed these relationships to develop even further.  By pulling together in this way, MK arts and heritage organisations are able to achieve a critical mass, and promote a cultural offer that spans the Borough.

Drawing Machine

Funding for this project came from four sources:

  • Arts Council England with match funding from the MK Collection
  • We secured £5,000 from MK Community Foundation to allow us to offer 5 commissions to artists (and further commissions were offered by MK Festival Fringe), with a brief to celebrate Milton Keynes and engage members of the public.
  • MK Council also provided funding for the production and distribution of marketing materials, in recognition that we were continuing the legacy of SoC on a significantly smaller budget.

Organisations involved in AHA-MK have told us that they were very pleased to be involved in this project:

Made in MK’ provided a strong legacy for the 2012 Summer of Culture programme, contributing to Milton Keynes’ aspiration to be distinctive and World Class.  (David Hill, MK Council) 

The Gallery was delighted to support the ‘Made in MK’ campaign.  Thematically, it linked perfectly with our summer exhibition and events programme ‘MK Calling’ (Katharine Sorensen, MK Gallery)

‘Made in MK’ played an important role in helping to bring many of the disparate creative programmes across MK together into one cohesive audience offer. (Jessica Rost, MK Festival Fringe)