In-Between Places: Class, Creativity and Contemporary Art
April 15, 2015, 6:00 pm
As part of its Practising Place programme, In Certain Places present an evening with artist William Titley in conversation with geographer Dr. Steve Millington. The event, which will take place at the Salutation pub in Manchester on Wednesday the 15th of April 2015 from 6pm to 8pm, will examine ideas of creativity, place and social class, through a focus on Titley and Millington’s individual research.
In particular, the speakers will discuss the value of vernacular forms of creativity, such as festivals, local crafts, or domestic Christmas light displays, which often exist outside of mainstream definitions of art and culture, but play important roles within the everyday life and traditions of a place. The event will also explore how professional artists can help to uncover and communicate the value of such practices, by inhabiting the spaces between different places and communities, and acting as conduits for discourse and exchange.
About the speakers:
William is an artist and Co-Director/Founder of In-Situ: a non-profit arts organisation based in East Lancashire. His work plays on ideas around spatial ownership, including notions of home, borders, and socio-cultural spaces; identifying and inhabiting a position in-between spaces from which he can engage with communities, the environment and place. From local histories, digital media and hybrid landscapes to political boundaries, social situations and local cultures, his work uncovers aspects of environments, cultures and a sense of place. Projects have included curating an artistic exchange between Lancashire and Lahore, capturing feral pigeons in Coney Island NYC, and an all-night Northern Soul event in Manchester’s Victoria Baths. William is also a lecturer in Fine Art at the University of Central Lancashire.
Dr Steve Millington is a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Place Management and a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at Manchester Metropolitan University. He is co-author of two edited collections, Cosmopolitan Urbanism and Spaces of Vernacular Creativity: Rethinking the Cultural Economy, both published by Routledge. His recent research explores the relationship between illumination and place, focusing on household Christmas light displays and Blackpool Illuminations, work that formed the subject of an episode of BBC Radio Four’s Thinking Allowed. Previous research has examined football fan culture, but more recently he has been working on an ESRC project examining the vitality and vibrancy of UK High Streets. Steve is a Trustee of the Manchester Geographical Society, and a Director of Institute of Place Management’s Special Interest Group for Geography and Planning.
Practising Place is a programme of public conversations, designed to examine the relationship between art practice and place. Each event is hosted at a different venue in the North of England, and explores a specific aspect of place by bringing artists together with people from different backgrounds, who share a common area of interest.
Practising Place forms part of the In Certain Places project, which is run by Prof. Charles Quick and Elaine Speight in the School of Art, Design and Performance at the University of Central Lancashire, and is funded by the Arts Council of England.
Click here to find out more about Practising Place.
To book your free place at this event click here.
