I'm Staying
Date uploaded: June 16, 2014
I’M STAYING is the first open commission of Bristol Biennial 2014: Crossing the Line, hosted by Arnolfini at the launch of Bristol Art Weekender. Shaun C Badham’s neon artwork will travel around the city for a two year period, addressing ideas of place and change, permanence and transition. I’M STAYING is a statement of both provocation and affirmation.
IM STAYING is a two and a half year project that will inhabit and travel around the city of Bristol. The artwork was launched in conjunction with the ‘Bristol Art Weekender’, a city-wide event organized by Situations. The work will continue to navigate around Bristol until the next Bristol Biennial in September 2016.
The artwork consists of a red neon sculpture, containing the words I’M STAYING in ‘Election Day’ font. The artwork measures five metres in length and just under a metre in height. I’M STAYING will make a quarterly journey to a total of nine locations over the 30-month period, as voted by the Bristol public.
I’M STAYING delves into how audiences can engage with a piece of contemporary artwork, blurring preconceived perceptions of where art should be located and how engagement is explored with its audience. The project creates an open dialogue (live and online) that questions the relationship between public art, location and viewer. The changing context of the artwork as it travels produces a rich multiplicity of meanings and interpretations: from art institution to local pub to public hospital.
Shaun C Badham was born in Essex in 1990. He studied at the University of the West of England (UWE), earning a First Class BA Honours in Fine Art and currently lives in London, studying on the MFA Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London. For more information about the artist click here.
The project is produced in partnership with Blink Giant Media, and sponsored by Nationwide Platforms and Jeremy Lewison Ltd.
For more inforation about the Bristol Biennial click here.
