Door to Door
'What's art got to do with it'
Autumn 2008 was the tenth anniversary of the first Housing Percent for
Art projects, and Bolton at Home considered it a timely opportunity to
reflect on the work of the service and on all the creative and innovative
regeneration work in Bolton.
In December 2007, Housing Percent for Art commissioned artists Matt and Rob
Vale to research and deliver a proposal for an exciting and innovative large
scale temporary public art project that would engage communities across
Bolton and capture the imagination, and the Door to Door project was
conceived. Funding was subsequently approved by Bolton at Home and Housing
Percent for Art later secured funding and support towards the project from
Bolton Council and Bolton Community Homes.
Throughout the summer and later months around 115 Bolton residents –
including local celebrities Mark Radcliffe, Dave Spikey and Jason Kenny -
were filmed on their own doorsteps performing various door-based activities.
Participants were drawn from all areas of the town and from a range of
housing backgrounds - Bolton at Home customers as well as residents from
housing associations and from the private sector. The individual films were
mapped onto a giant grid, edited and animated, for projection onto the Le
Mans Crescent buildings in Bolton town centre over five days (Tuesday 11th
to Saturday 15th November 2008).
Every person that had been filmed was invited to a Hollywood-style launch
event at the Festival Hall on Tuesday 11th November, where they were treated
to a red carpet entrance, photographed by the Digital Paparazzi and
entertained by performance artists Pearl & Deanie. At 7.00 pm all guests
moved outside to Le Mans Crescent and the Mayor of Bolton, Councillor
Anthony Connell, and Noel Spencer, Chair of Bolton at Home, officially
switched-on the Door to Door projection.
The project received a substantial amount of positive press, featuring
articles in the Bolton News, Bolton Journal, Guardian Society, Manchester
Evening News, Inside Housing and on BBC Manchester.
Comedian Dave Spikey, who appears in the film, said: "Door to Door is a
great project and really celebrates the importance of Bolton’s estates, its
people and its spirit. People in the North West traditionally have a
positive outlook on life, know how to have a laugh and many still look out
for their neighbours. Any project that promotes the importance of this
deserves to be in the spotlight."
The
‘Door to Door’ project is one of a series of high profile projects designed
to mark ten years of creative work in housing and regeneration, to promote
the benefits of the arts as a creative tool and to recognise Bolton’s
achievements in not just physical but social and economic regeneration. The
foremost of these projects is a major arts in regeneration ‘convention’
titled ‘What’s art got to do with it?’. This event took place on Thursday
15th November 2008 and involved a number of high profile and inspirational
speakers including designer Wayne Hemingway, Laurie Peake (Programme
Director for Public Art, Liverpool Biennial), arts and architecture practice
Sans Façon, and international arts/architecture collective Office for
Subversive Architecture.
An introduction to Housing Percent
for Art
Funding
Information
for artists
Housing Percent for Art:
archive of physical artwork case studies
Housing
Percent for Art: archive of non-physical artwork case studies
Housing Percent for Art: contacts
