Revolutions 15-17: Forward Back Together by Simon Pope
Date uploaded: July 4, 2013
Revolutions 15-17: Forward Back Together
by Simon Pope
Raymond Mason's Forward statue was erected in Centenary Square in 1991 and later destroyed by fire in 2003. Forward Back Together is a new commission by artist Simon Pope relating to the most controversial public artwork to be located in Birmingham's city centre.
Using a participatory methodology, Forward Back Together considers the material transformations of this publicly sited artwork, from its commissioning by Birmingham City Council, its varied reception by Birmingham's public, and its subsequent destruction by members of that very same 'public'.
The project manifests itself as a series of conversations and consultations, a call for witnesses and a round-table script-development meeting where a fictional account of Forward's life as a public artwork was improvised between the statue, the city's other statues, residents and historical figures, and the various 'publics' produced by each point of the statue's existence, and will be presented from the point-of-view of the statue itself.
Meet Simon Pope at Vivid Projects on Saturday 6th July, 12-3pm during which time he will be in conversation (2pm) with project participant Dr Saskia Warren, Research Fellow at the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at University of Birmingham. You can also pick up a limited edition of the transcript.
Forward Back Together addresses and problematizes certain models of philanthropy and models of 'public art'; and considers the rejection of a gift given in good faith.
This new commission is presented as part of Vivid Projects' opening season 33 REVOLUTIONS, an eight-month programme that asks the question: can art and popular culture act as a catalyst for social change? Forward Back Together was commissioned by Vivid Projects and curated by Kaye Winwood.
