Previous works by Claire Weetman have studied the movement of people within micro environments: How do individuals navigate a single street or public square, what are the places of transition in public spaces and how can people’s movement be documented within those spaces? During 2012 Weetman spent seven weeks in two of the most populated cities in the world; Istanbul and Shanghai. Explorations of these two megalopolises raised questions about population and public space, considering a macro scale of population movement, growth, and urbanisation: How do public spaces shape population movement on micro and macro scales? How is population shift evidenced in changing public spaces?

These questions have shaped two installations, developed over days and nights spent exploring Shanghai, unable to read Chinese characters, following signage, becoming disoriented, exploring a new area, retracing routes. People-watching in busy urban parks. Ballroom dancing between badminton players and plane trees to Chinese tango melodies. Emerging from underground stations on escalators, getting lost ascending and descending one shopping-mall-filled skyscraper after another. Always on the move, always somewhere new, always exploring.

The methods used to collect material for Weetman’s new work reflect her active exploration inspired by the constant rhythm of the city. Photographs and video clips documenting her passage in the city were filmed quickly and discreetly, barely breaking step as she navigated the city.

Installation view: a remarkable architecture of stairs”

Shanghai’s population increased exponentially from 1979 to 2010. Surprisingly, for such rapid growth, per-capita living space has increased at pace with population. This ability to give more people more room within the same geographical area may seem an unlikely statistic, but it makes sense considering the development of the city landscape, from flat marshland to a vision of monumental skyscrapers in the space of 20 years.

Day to day, the physical experience of the city’s change from low rise to high rise life is the stairway. Linear stairs and escalators punctuate the bustle of the metro station, the pace of walkways on the street, and the calm of a 10-storey shopping mall. Henri Lefebvre refers to this in his text on “Rhythmanalysis” which discusses how “stairs rhythm the walk through the city, while at the same time serving as transition between different rhythms… their blatant monumentality imposes on the body and consciousness the requirement of passing from one rhythm to another rhythm, as yet unknown, to be discovered.”

Weetman was guided through the expansive city by a wide array of arrows, an internationally recognisable symbol, on ceilings, walls, and floors. As the skyscrapers are evidence of a changing public space due to population shifts, the increased use of arrows symbolise the increasing population. Without these arrows to direct the mass transit of people through Shanghai’s metro system it feels as though the heavily populated city might grind to a halt.

Installation view: “Would you tell me, please..”  Interactive digital projection.

Weetman collected photographs of arrows from across the city. In the act of collecting them, the arrows are transformed from a signifier to follow through the city into a marker that traces places the artist has been. Weetman presents this dual interpretation of the arrows in her digital interactive work ‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’ She asks her audience who is guiding who? Am I exploring this place of my own free will? Do I follow the arrows? Are the arrows following me? Or, are my actions being pushed in a certain direction by external forces?

Claire Weetman is an artist who, since 2009, has worked internationally on exchanges, residencies and exhibitions in cities including Linz, Schiedam, Istanbul and Shanghai. She studied Fine Art at Liverpool John Moores University (2003), and in 2011 co-founded the artist-led studios and artist network Platform Art St Helens.

A selection of original photograms are available to purchase from the Bluecoat. This work has been made possible with a Re:View professional development bursary from a-n.

‘A remarkable architecture of stairs’

‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’

Open daily 10am – 6pm. Free.

 
Artist Talk
Saturday 17 August 2pm – meet in the Vide
The Bluecoat. School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BX

Portfolio NW
Featuring artists Rebecca Chesney, Tadhg Devlin, Dave Evans, 0point3recurring (David Henckel, Dan Wilkinson & Leon Hardman), Hannah Wooll, Kai-Oi Jay Yung, this exhibition runs concurrently with Claire’s installations.

I’ve been selected to participate in the location specific exhibition ‘art:language:location’ in Cambridge this October, and as part of the planning process towards the event the organisers held a meeting of many of the artists involved on the weekend of the 22nd June.  It was my first visit to Cambridge, so I’ve managed to pack in getting to know some of the artists along with site visits and a whistle-stop walk around the historic centre.

My proposal is to create an intervention on a pavement that will interrupt and influence people’s movement as they move through space, so here’s a few research images that will start to come together to form the work in October.  Between now and then, there’s some drawings to be made to test ideas out and some logistical hurdles to sort out. 

For more information on art:language:location visit artlanguagelocation.wordpress.com

I’ve just updated my website with some pictures of my latest work, a series of 6 laser engraved boxes that tell stories of my experiences in Shanghai.  From ballroom dancing in a park, to feeling hemmed in at a gated water town, these small boxes share my adventures.

They are currently being exhibited at the Gallery at Bank Quay House in Warrington as part of Markmakers latest exhibition which explores narrative and storytelling. The boxes are available to purchase at £60 each.

For more information about the individual artists or any other enquiries please contact Jason Simpson – Jason@neoartists.co.uk

Following her residency to Shanghai in November 2012, Claire has been developing work using the arrows that she photographed there.  Using the camerless technique of producing a photogram, Claire has produced a series of works which see the arrows move across the page, leaving traces of where they have been behind them.

One of these works, ‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? (Down)’ is on show at the Halton Open, at The Brindley Arts Centre, Runcorn from 13 April 2013, and has been awarded a Highly Commended prize.

The works are made using photosensitive paper in a darkroom, placing cut-out outlines of the Shanghai arrows onto the paper surface, exposing them to light, then moving the cut outs to a new position, exposing them to light, moving them again, and so on for a number of repetitions.

The works are for sale at a cost of £100 each (framed), contact the artist on info@claireweetman.co.uk

Twenty-five artists are to gain professional development support through a-n’s artists’ Re:view bursaries. Awarded in March, the bursaries range in value from £310-£1000, from a total fund of £21,700. They are specifically designed to support artists’ self-determined critical and artistic development.

Claire Weetman has been awarded one of these bursaries to enable her to develop her skills to produce digital interactive works that she developed proposals for during her 2012 residency to Shanghai.  She will work with Salford University and internationally recognised artists to develop her work both technically and with critical support.

Writing last year about the Arts Council England cuts to small-scale, practice-centred organisations, Dany Louise said: ‘Disinvestment will impact considerably on the scope of opportunity for artists, impacting adversely on their career development and livelihoods and increasing competition for the professional development opportunities that remain.”

a-n’s research has revealed that artists’ practices and livelihoods have indeed been badly affected, including through reductions in levels of paid work on offer and increased charges and costs being passed onto artists.

Set within a professional development programme that also includes seminars, Go and see bursaries, AIRTIME networking events and online resources, the Re:view bursaries are exclusive to a-n’s Artist + AIR membership. It is hoped they will play their part in providing artists with much-needed finance for self-directed critique and advice, assisting more artists to move their practice forward.

All artists with a-n Artist+AIR membership were eligible to apply for a share of the £21,700 fund, and from 56 applications received, the following were successful: Judith Alder (Sussex), Sovay Berriman (London), Charlie Carter (Hampshire), Amelia Crouch (Leeds), Sophie Cullinan (East Midlands), Susan Diab (Brighton), Susan Francis (Salisbury), FrenchMottershead-(London), Penny Hallas (Powys), Anton Hecht (Newcastle), Matthew Krishanu (London), Sally Lemsford (East Midlands), Jean McEwan (Keighley), Steve Messam (Cumbria, Elizabeth Murton (London), Julia O’Connell (Coventry), Kate Paxman (Torbay), Chantal Powell (London) Phiona Richards (Northampton), Alexis Zelda Stevens (London), Joe Stevens (Bridport), Clare Thornton (Bristol), Alana Tyson (Wales) and Claire Weetman (St Helens).

The practices of the successful artists range from painting, print and photography to digital art, dance, design and sound, many with collaborative working integral.

The concept

The idea behind