Crested china tank project 2013/15
GHOST (Installation images)
Castle Cafe table top commissions
26th July - 16th November 2014
Nottingham Castle & Art gallery
Castle Cafe table top commissions
26th July - 16th November 2014
Nottingham Castle & Art gallery
Introduction
The Great War that began in August 1914 and concluded with the armistice of the autumn 1918 is one of the most edifying conflicts within memory. This artists multiple is modelled on the ‘female’ version of the British land ship, the MK1 tank which first saw action in 1916. This contemporary piece is inspired by the Goss bone china produced by the Falcon Pottery (Stoke-on-Trent) in the early Twentieth Century.
In 2013 (with support from Arts Council England) I undertook a period of research and development in Stoke-on-Trent. With the support of Stafford University and working with several skilled artisans we produced several bone china prototypes. It was a natural decision that I felt that the bone china tanks should be made in the home of crested china. In my own way I wanted to pay my own due respect to those continuing to work in the industry and to remember those who through circumstance find their skills surplus to requirements. I hope over the next few years some of those find their way back into the industry.
Whilst visiting the potteries in late 2013 I spent an afternoon in search of the former Falcon Works. Gaining access to the abandoned site (through a gap in the chain-link fence) I saw the famed stone Goss Hawk perched high upon the wall of what remains of the Grade II listed building. Ferreting around in the undergrowth I recovered fragments of Goss china, made all the more remarkable given the fact that production ceased in 1940.
Undertaking historical research on the potteries I became aware of the devastating decline in British Ceramics manufacturing during the latter quarter of the 20th Century. The birthplace of the pottery industry Stoke-on-Trent is a shadow of its former self, however the new bread of manufacturer produces ceramics with as much skill as their forebears.
My intention: Ghost will be produced as two distinct versions:
Version 1 I call a museum edition, this will consist of 15 bone china tanks each with hand painted poppies. Each tank will have a gold back stamp. The tank will sit upon an acrylic roundel (20 cm in diameter), this has been laser etched with a barbed wire design. The idea is that each tank, the roundel and a detailed booklet will be housed in a wooden box (made by a craftsman). It is this version that I seek to have placed in museum collections.
Version 2 would be made in an edition of 250*. This tank is unmarked and will have a cobalt blue back stamp. This will be packaged in a simple matchbox type box.
Notes
* The original idea would consist of 1914 'blank' tanks made
In 1903 the tank concept was born, The Levavasseur project (French) is described as a crawler-tracked armoured vehicle equipped with artillery. In the same year HG Wells wrote a short story, the land Ironclads’ and described the use of a large, armoured cross-country vehicles armed with cannon and machine guns. The first offensive using Mark 1 tanks took place on 15th September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme.
There were many potteries which produced heraldic / crested china ware, Shelley Pottery, Carlton China, Willow Art and Wiltshire China to name but a few. Although William Henry Goss first produced Heraldic china it was not until his oldest son Adolphus began to market the idea that souvenir ware became popular. The Goss factory started the collecting craze and thereafter other potteries rapidly began to produce imitations. It became important for the Victorian or Edwardian tourist to bring back a memento from their travels. ‘Goss has been something like a national benefactor in providing a number of acceptable, artistic, and not too expensive presents for all occasions.’ (The Pottery Gazette 1912)
Thomas Arthur Withers (Private. 16428)
On a personal level I had a grandparent who fought in the First World War. On the 18th April 1913 Thomas Arthur Withers made the decision to join the army to attain his education certificate. Thomas filled in his attestation form and joined the infantry regiment, the Grenadier Guards.
At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the 1st battalion (Thomas’s regiment) and which carried out ceremonial duties (Trooping the Color) in London were sent to France. The 1st took part in the early stages of the fighting during the period known as "Race to the Sea", during which time they were involved significantly at the First Battle of Ypres. In October 1914 near Polygon Wood Thomas Arthur became a casualty of the war. Taking a bullet in the right hand side of his face Thomas buckled and fell to the floor, with courage he probed his bleeding face and dug out the bullet; he lost consciousness. Left for dead upon the battlefield Thomas’s corpse was eventually retrieved. Upon a blood drenched stretcher the latent body was carried towards other cadavers for burial...an observant fellow saw the slightest twitch of a nerve in one finger of the left hand...several weeks later Thomas Arthur awoke in a hospital bed (in Ireland) swathed in fresh, soft white linen sheets. After several months Thomas Arthur was transported back to England to The General Hospital, Nottingham to continue his convalescing. TAW was discharged on the 14th December 1915, cause of discharge is listed as 'Wounds'.
The Tank and I
Military hardware and more specifically the tank and the airplane have (on many previous occasions) featured in my work. In 1989 for example I hand cast (in lead) a large number of little tanks for a work called, ‘Exodus’. In 2013 I proposed to artangel a participatory installation called, ‘My Lullaby’. This work (situated in a city street) invited members of the public to position themselves in front of a line of four black inflatable military tanks. The project recounts the tail of the mysterious ‘Tank Man’ and the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989. This aforementioned project and this proposal, ‘the china tank project’ reflect upon my interest in perceptions in relation to the ‘iconic image’, I have explored this subject previously in other artwork (Folk Songs was a series of decoupage collages). I am interested in re-enactments and the notion of values, individualism, liberation, human rights, liberty, equality, the rule of law, democracy and free markets. In this nomenclature the latter is made manifest with the idea of producing material objects. The making of ‘stuff’ becomes represented in this project by the making of a tank whilst in ‘My lullaby’ it would have been the carrier bag…each person is an end product. The tank in one fashion is about ‘Production’ and in times of war (and peacetime) a significant amount of resources are given to the industrialism of hardware. The china tank project (albeit on a small scale) echoes the art of mass production and manufacture. August 1914 marked the end of a relatively peaceful century in Europe with unprecedented invention and new science. The early years of the First World War could be characterized as a clash of twentieth century technologies across a strip of no man’s land.
The Great War that began in August 1914 and concluded with the armistice of the autumn 1918 is one of the most edifying conflicts within memory. This artists multiple is modelled on the ‘female’ version of the British land ship, the MK1 tank which first saw action in 1916. This contemporary piece is inspired by the Goss bone china produced by the Falcon Pottery (Stoke-on-Trent) in the early Twentieth Century.
In 2013 (with support from Arts Council England) I undertook a period of research and development in Stoke-on-Trent. With the support of Stafford University and working with several skilled artisans we produced several bone china prototypes. It was a natural decision that I felt that the bone china tanks should be made in the home of crested china. In my own way I wanted to pay my own due respect to those continuing to work in the industry and to remember those who through circumstance find their skills surplus to requirements. I hope over the next few years some of those find their way back into the industry.
Whilst visiting the potteries in late 2013 I spent an afternoon in search of the former Falcon Works. Gaining access to the abandoned site (through a gap in the chain-link fence) I saw the famed stone Goss Hawk perched high upon the wall of what remains of the Grade II listed building. Ferreting around in the undergrowth I recovered fragments of Goss china, made all the more remarkable given the fact that production ceased in 1940.
Undertaking historical research on the potteries I became aware of the devastating decline in British Ceramics manufacturing during the latter quarter of the 20th Century. The birthplace of the pottery industry Stoke-on-Trent is a shadow of its former self, however the new bread of manufacturer produces ceramics with as much skill as their forebears.
My intention: Ghost will be produced as two distinct versions:
Version 1 I call a museum edition, this will consist of 15 bone china tanks each with hand painted poppies. Each tank will have a gold back stamp. The tank will sit upon an acrylic roundel (20 cm in diameter), this has been laser etched with a barbed wire design. The idea is that each tank, the roundel and a detailed booklet will be housed in a wooden box (made by a craftsman). It is this version that I seek to have placed in museum collections.
Version 2 would be made in an edition of 250*. This tank is unmarked and will have a cobalt blue back stamp. This will be packaged in a simple matchbox type box.
Notes
* The original idea would consist of 1914 'blank' tanks made
In 1903 the tank concept was born, The Levavasseur project (French) is described as a crawler-tracked armoured vehicle equipped with artillery. In the same year HG Wells wrote a short story, the land Ironclads’ and described the use of a large, armoured cross-country vehicles armed with cannon and machine guns. The first offensive using Mark 1 tanks took place on 15th September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme.
There were many potteries which produced heraldic / crested china ware, Shelley Pottery, Carlton China, Willow Art and Wiltshire China to name but a few. Although William Henry Goss first produced Heraldic china it was not until his oldest son Adolphus began to market the idea that souvenir ware became popular. The Goss factory started the collecting craze and thereafter other potteries rapidly began to produce imitations. It became important for the Victorian or Edwardian tourist to bring back a memento from their travels. ‘Goss has been something like a national benefactor in providing a number of acceptable, artistic, and not too expensive presents for all occasions.’ (The Pottery Gazette 1912)
Thomas Arthur Withers (Private. 16428)
On a personal level I had a grandparent who fought in the First World War. On the 18th April 1913 Thomas Arthur Withers made the decision to join the army to attain his education certificate. Thomas filled in his attestation form and joined the infantry regiment, the Grenadier Guards.
At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the 1st battalion (Thomas’s regiment) and which carried out ceremonial duties (Trooping the Color) in London were sent to France. The 1st took part in the early stages of the fighting during the period known as "Race to the Sea", during which time they were involved significantly at the First Battle of Ypres. In October 1914 near Polygon Wood Thomas Arthur became a casualty of the war. Taking a bullet in the right hand side of his face Thomas buckled and fell to the floor, with courage he probed his bleeding face and dug out the bullet; he lost consciousness. Left for dead upon the battlefield Thomas’s corpse was eventually retrieved. Upon a blood drenched stretcher the latent body was carried towards other cadavers for burial...an observant fellow saw the slightest twitch of a nerve in one finger of the left hand...several weeks later Thomas Arthur awoke in a hospital bed (in Ireland) swathed in fresh, soft white linen sheets. After several months Thomas Arthur was transported back to England to The General Hospital, Nottingham to continue his convalescing. TAW was discharged on the 14th December 1915, cause of discharge is listed as 'Wounds'.
The Tank and I
Military hardware and more specifically the tank and the airplane have (on many previous occasions) featured in my work. In 1989 for example I hand cast (in lead) a large number of little tanks for a work called, ‘Exodus’. In 2013 I proposed to artangel a participatory installation called, ‘My Lullaby’. This work (situated in a city street) invited members of the public to position themselves in front of a line of four black inflatable military tanks. The project recounts the tail of the mysterious ‘Tank Man’ and the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989. This aforementioned project and this proposal, ‘the china tank project’ reflect upon my interest in perceptions in relation to the ‘iconic image’, I have explored this subject previously in other artwork (Folk Songs was a series of decoupage collages). I am interested in re-enactments and the notion of values, individualism, liberation, human rights, liberty, equality, the rule of law, democracy and free markets. In this nomenclature the latter is made manifest with the idea of producing material objects. The making of ‘stuff’ becomes represented in this project by the making of a tank whilst in ‘My lullaby’ it would have been the carrier bag…each person is an end product. The tank in one fashion is about ‘Production’ and in times of war (and peacetime) a significant amount of resources are given to the industrialism of hardware. The china tank project (albeit on a small scale) echoes the art of mass production and manufacture. August 1914 marked the end of a relatively peaceful century in Europe with unprecedented invention and new science. The early years of the First World War could be characterized as a clash of twentieth century technologies across a strip of no man’s land.
Box as stand
Box as monument
Box as cenotaph
Box as casket
Box as coffin
Box as matchbox
Box as crate
Box as carrier
Box as storage
Box with something to hide
Box with something to reveal
Box as a simplification of the object contained
Box white
Box as ghost
Box as obstacle
Box as trap
Box as vessel
Box as drip tray
The red insert
Red as blood
Red as poppy
Red as marker
Box as monument
Box as cenotaph
Box as casket
Box as coffin
Box as matchbox
Box as crate
Box as carrier
Box as storage
Box with something to hide
Box with something to reveal
Box as a simplification of the object contained
Box white
Box as ghost
Box as obstacle
Box as trap
Box as vessel
Box as drip tray
The red insert
Red as blood
Red as poppy
Red as marker
NOTES / HISTORICAL - REFERENCE AND CONTEXT
FALCON WORKS / GOSS
FALCON WORKS / GOSS
Formerly known as the Falcon works, the surviving buildings comprise of the kiln block (2 bottle ovens) and 2 workshops and warehouses. These were built by Goss (circa 1902-05) as an extension to the London Road works (company established in 1858).
At its zenith Goss employed about 120 staff during the 1900-1914 period. From this point forwards there were to be many contributing factors in the down turn in fortunes for the factory. The Great War had a significant impact on the production (the company attempted to revive their fortunes by producing china dolls heads) but equal to the Great War would be the effects of poor internal management decisions, coal strikes and the loss of foreign trade due to unsettled international markets. Britain leaving the Gold Standard in 1924 (there was also the world wide depression in the same year) also contributed to and impacted upon the company. There were other factors also, after the Great War the mood of the nation had changed and the younger generation were less likely to purchase commemorative souvenirs (connected with both the Victorian and Edwardian eras).
The Goss firm tried to alter production to attract new customers by producing new product lines such as china wear that had brightly decorated floral design ware...hand painted flowers such as crocuses, hollyhocks and (appropriately for me) poppies. By the 1920's Goss were forced to purchase cheaper inferior local clays rather than buying in the expensive Devon and Cornwall 'Felspar' china clays. These heavier clays made it impossible for Goss to continue to manufacture fine bone china heraldic ware and so those lines were to be abandoned. The factory tried (through experimenting with flints and local clays) to make a compound that worked, but these experiments ended in failure during the firing process (the china cracked in the ovens). These failures and the shortage of funds depleted the firm's finances further still.
The factory was never really a big manufacturing company compared to its rivals (I have yet to establish the size of its competitors). By 1930 the company was sold for £2,000 to Cauldon Potteries and the factory entered what has become known as its 'twilight period'...and by 1940 production output creased. In reference to the manufacturing of the dolls heads (for example)...It took them much time and expense to purchase the necessary equipment to make the heads and despite the high purchase price by the time the war ended Germany was already flooding the English market with much cheaper versions. The firm did not break even on their costs and this only contributed further to their financial troubles.
In the early 1980's the factory was being used as clothing manufacturing business and as a premises for slumberland bedding and an electrical factory. The building was eventually sold to the adjoining Portmeirion pottery who subsequently demolished the majority of the original buildings, with the exception of two GLOST ovens (listed). The enamel and printing warehouse also remains...and the Goshawk is still visible...an insert within the gable of the warehouse (see image above).
...I intend to write a text about the history of Goss china with reference to my crested china project...at the moment and suffice to say I was pleased to have visited the site and to have crawled under the chain link fence to look at the site in a little more detail.
At its zenith Goss employed about 120 staff during the 1900-1914 period. From this point forwards there were to be many contributing factors in the down turn in fortunes for the factory. The Great War had a significant impact on the production (the company attempted to revive their fortunes by producing china dolls heads) but equal to the Great War would be the effects of poor internal management decisions, coal strikes and the loss of foreign trade due to unsettled international markets. Britain leaving the Gold Standard in 1924 (there was also the world wide depression in the same year) also contributed to and impacted upon the company. There were other factors also, after the Great War the mood of the nation had changed and the younger generation were less likely to purchase commemorative souvenirs (connected with both the Victorian and Edwardian eras).
The Goss firm tried to alter production to attract new customers by producing new product lines such as china wear that had brightly decorated floral design ware...hand painted flowers such as crocuses, hollyhocks and (appropriately for me) poppies. By the 1920's Goss were forced to purchase cheaper inferior local clays rather than buying in the expensive Devon and Cornwall 'Felspar' china clays. These heavier clays made it impossible for Goss to continue to manufacture fine bone china heraldic ware and so those lines were to be abandoned. The factory tried (through experimenting with flints and local clays) to make a compound that worked, but these experiments ended in failure during the firing process (the china cracked in the ovens). These failures and the shortage of funds depleted the firm's finances further still.
The factory was never really a big manufacturing company compared to its rivals (I have yet to establish the size of its competitors). By 1930 the company was sold for £2,000 to Cauldon Potteries and the factory entered what has become known as its 'twilight period'...and by 1940 production output creased. In reference to the manufacturing of the dolls heads (for example)...It took them much time and expense to purchase the necessary equipment to make the heads and despite the high purchase price by the time the war ended Germany was already flooding the English market with much cheaper versions. The firm did not break even on their costs and this only contributed further to their financial troubles.
In the early 1980's the factory was being used as clothing manufacturing business and as a premises for slumberland bedding and an electrical factory. The building was eventually sold to the adjoining Portmeirion pottery who subsequently demolished the majority of the original buildings, with the exception of two GLOST ovens (listed). The enamel and printing warehouse also remains...and the Goshawk is still visible...an insert within the gable of the warehouse (see image above).
...I intend to write a text about the history of Goss china with reference to my crested china project...at the moment and suffice to say I was pleased to have visited the site and to have crawled under the chain link fence to look at the site in a little more detail.
THE POTTERIES / WW1
From the latter part of the 18th Century to the outbreak of war in 1914 Germany who were the principal exporters of cheap novelty and decorative (moustache cups, gift ware and egg cups for example) pottery to Britain. The German produces were experts in producing this type of affordable fancy pottery. There was dissatisfaction among British manufactures that felt that they were being undercut by German imports and were unable to compete.
For the first few months of the war (up until Christmas 1914) paralysis within pottery manufacture set in. The public and politicians alike were lead to believe that, ‘the war would be over by Christmas’ and the pottery industry were thinking in similar terms. Upon the outbreak of war Imports of German pottery creased and stocks of German manufactured goods were often removed from the shelves (for patriotic reasons). Eggcups (for instance) were in short supply and the Staffordshire potteries were unable (during the early stages of the war) able to make up the shortfall. This was specifically noticeable on ‘high end wares’ (finely crafted decorative china). Middle level firms coped better and these potteries were able to supply products for both the domestic market eggcups and other affordable ware) and supply the war department contracts. Returning to the eggcup shortage the enterprising Elijah Brooks set up the Keele Street Pottery (Staffordshire) to meet demand. The Keel Street potteries (and others) would supply such items to both the military and hospitals.
The war brought to bear social changes within the workplace. In the main (but not exclusively so) were the jobs in the potteries undertaken by the men and the different jobs undertaken by women. Generally at the making end (throwing and mould making for example) women were assistants to the men and paid accordingly a lesser wage. Some potteries saw an exodus of skilled male workers leave for the front, women moved into the vacated rolls and after the war some were able to keep those (however the pay remained less than what the men had been paid…some 2/3rds less). After the war it was anticipated that the returning men would re-occupy their old jobs, negotiations between the unions and employer’s saw that this did occur, however men did find that they were edged out from jobs.
Propaganda ware, which included the manufacture of land ships, dreadnoughts and other military hardware (alongside decorative ware, trinkets and practical goods such as sugar bowls), flooded the domestic market. There were in excess of 100 factories making souvenir ware to commemorate landmark events and towns and cities (crested china), which were sold for a few pence. The items were made in there millions and were not conceived as objects that were made to last. It is likely that one of the outcomes of the war was that British pottery manufacturing was more able to adapt to social changes in buying trends.
From the latter part of the 18th Century to the outbreak of war in 1914 Germany who were the principal exporters of cheap novelty and decorative (moustache cups, gift ware and egg cups for example) pottery to Britain. The German produces were experts in producing this type of affordable fancy pottery. There was dissatisfaction among British manufactures that felt that they were being undercut by German imports and were unable to compete.
For the first few months of the war (up until Christmas 1914) paralysis within pottery manufacture set in. The public and politicians alike were lead to believe that, ‘the war would be over by Christmas’ and the pottery industry were thinking in similar terms. Upon the outbreak of war Imports of German pottery creased and stocks of German manufactured goods were often removed from the shelves (for patriotic reasons). Eggcups (for instance) were in short supply and the Staffordshire potteries were unable (during the early stages of the war) able to make up the shortfall. This was specifically noticeable on ‘high end wares’ (finely crafted decorative china). Middle level firms coped better and these potteries were able to supply products for both the domestic market eggcups and other affordable ware) and supply the war department contracts. Returning to the eggcup shortage the enterprising Elijah Brooks set up the Keele Street Pottery (Staffordshire) to meet demand. The Keel Street potteries (and others) would supply such items to both the military and hospitals.
The war brought to bear social changes within the workplace. In the main (but not exclusively so) were the jobs in the potteries undertaken by the men and the different jobs undertaken by women. Generally at the making end (throwing and mould making for example) women were assistants to the men and paid accordingly a lesser wage. Some potteries saw an exodus of skilled male workers leave for the front, women moved into the vacated rolls and after the war some were able to keep those (however the pay remained less than what the men had been paid…some 2/3rds less). After the war it was anticipated that the returning men would re-occupy their old jobs, negotiations between the unions and employer’s saw that this did occur, however men did find that they were edged out from jobs.
Propaganda ware, which included the manufacture of land ships, dreadnoughts and other military hardware (alongside decorative ware, trinkets and practical goods such as sugar bowls), flooded the domestic market. There were in excess of 100 factories making souvenir ware to commemorate landmark events and towns and cities (crested china), which were sold for a few pence. The items were made in there millions and were not conceived as objects that were made to last. It is likely that one of the outcomes of the war was that British pottery manufacturing was more able to adapt to social changes in buying trends.
Reference Material
In the Beginning...
The TNumbers Game
A proposal for a time based installation
November 2012 - January 2013
The Great War began in August 1914 and ended with the armistice of the autumn 1918. Immediately after the war it was universally believed that the war had been, ‘a war to end all wars’. On the eve of marking the anniversary of WW1 there is also an opportunity to give solemn thought to the fact that there has only been a single year (1968) when a soldier of the Crown has not been killed while on active service somewhere in the world.
The Numbers Game is a proposal to produce a time based installation within the Derbyshire landscape, ideally over a four year period to mark the period of the war itself. The work is ambitious in dimension and considers the industrial scale in which the Great War was waged. The Numbers Game offers the audience a live experience and brings WW1 to life.
Below is a scenario of a family visiting this site in 2015
Imagine a family arrives at the location somewhere in Derbyshire. They have frequently read about the outdoor installation being created in response to the commemorations that mark the 1914-1918 war. This day trip is not the family’s first visit to the site; they first came to see the installation in August 2014. Along with many other visitors they witnessed the very first white wooden cross being driven into the earth. Without delay, this act was followed by a second cross, then a third, then a forth and thereafter more and more crosses were placed in the ground in rapid succession. This was only the opening salvo of the process and by the end of the first hour 25 crosses were committed to ground; at the end of the first day the number totalled 607. After the first month there were 18,477 crosses and by the conclusion of the first year they totalled 221,734. As each hour passed so more and more crosses began to cover the land.
The family visit the temporary facility especially constructed for the project and they see the building (1) where the crosses are created, observing them being prepared on an industrial scale. The production requirement is relentless...607 per day (2), the same statistic repeated...day in day out. It is a four year assignment for those labouring to create the work. It takes an army of volunteers and employees to feed the mechanism. The family read about the war and also specifically about the project. Over the four year period the number of crosses placed in the landscape will reach 886,939 (each cross accounting for a single military death (3).
With packed lunch in hand, they leave the complex and walk along a series of duck boards towards a white picket fence. They pass through the gate and into the landscape. Ahead of them are the first of many crosses. In the distance there is ‘the rise’ : a natural grassy hill which is still unaffected by the encroaching crosses in the landscape. The family begin to walk amongst the white regimented lines receding into the distance while children play and run in between some of the crosses as they walk. On this particular day they are among many other visitors. As they climb the hill, they allow themselves time to take stock and are astounded at the immensity of the war...
The family ascent the hill and take a picnic on top of the rise. Looking down into the fields below they see the building where the crosses are made. They then turn their attentions upon the people situated among the crosses in the landscape below. Ant like, the volunteers busy themselves in one corner of the pasture....25 crosses an hour. The family see other visitors walking along the lines of crosses and people can be seen sitting down in amongst them, whilst others can be observed lying down as if occupying a soldiers plot. Although all the crosses are anonymous, some have poppy wreaths placed next to them whilst in other cases bunches of flowers have been left by other visitors.
The family (having taken their images) journey back down through the pastures (4) and out through the gate. They pay a final visit to the visitor centre where a member of the family purchases one of the few commemorative items (5) produced for the installation; it is a crested china tank memento (6).
As the family head for home further crosses continue to be added.
By creating the above scenario, hopefully I have helped begin the process of visualisation in terms of the visitor experience and evoke for you the multi layered interactive experience this proposal offers.
For many their introduction to this war will be received through both television and though books (I have little doubt that a whole gamut of documentaries will ensue). It is possible that there will be an increased number of families from the UK who will travel across the English Channel to visit the battlefields of Northern France and Belgium to find the war grave of a distant ancestor; perhaps thereafter they will enter a preserved war time trench, one softened by nature and by time.
For those unable to travel, this proposal offers an experience much closer to home. Audiences are seemingly seeking to experience and share in a collective activity yet they also want that experience to focus upon the individual; we like to take personal ownership of experiences by recording and documenting the experience. I believe this project allows the individual to experience a personal immersive relationship with the work whilst having the opportunity to stand far afield and feel somewhat dwarfed by the enormity of it all.
The practical details regarding how this project can be brought to life and who will be involved, together with detailed logistics and cost breakdowns will become the focus of my attention pending a successful outcome to this application.
Notes
1. I envisage that the facility consists of a workshop (visible to the viewing public), a modest visitor centre incorporating WC’ facilities and (cafe?) in addition an exhibitions facility where information (interactive?) can be exhibited.
2. The logistics of making the crosses in real time (at the point of production) may need to be revised. It is possible that we will need to consider producing them in greater numbers than a 24 hr period allows for. In a logistical sense it is reasonable to assume the facility will not necessarily be working to produce crosses 24-7. I would like to think that the crosses will be installed in the ground 364 days a year.
3. The approximate number of British Military deaths (not including an additional 35,700 from the commonwealth). In 1914 the UK had a population of 45.4 million, in addition to those killed in battle there were 2,000 civilian deaths due to military action and a further 107,000 ‘Excess deaths’ (those who died due to famine, disease and accidents). The total accumulative total was 995,939 or 2.19% of the population. There were a further 1,663,435 UK military wounded, and some 60,000 men suffering from shell shock. (There are conflicting statistics and further research will need to be undertaken to verify the exact number of those killed in WW1).
4. The project actively encourages visitors to walk in the landscape; to this end it may be possible to develop circular walks as the project unfolds.
5. It would be valuable to document the creation of the installation and I would like to find ways of producing visual material, for example a series of postcards and a booklet.
6. The idea is to have produced a specially commissioned Crested China tank made. The contemporary piece proposed is inspired by the china made popular by the factory Falcon Pottery founded by Henry Goss (Stoke on Trent) in the early 20th Century. The souvenir could be made in both an open edition and a limited edition. I would like to consider that a profit made from the sale of this item goes to the Royal British Legion.
The TNumbers Game
A proposal for a time based installation
November 2012 - January 2013
The Great War began in August 1914 and ended with the armistice of the autumn 1918. Immediately after the war it was universally believed that the war had been, ‘a war to end all wars’. On the eve of marking the anniversary of WW1 there is also an opportunity to give solemn thought to the fact that there has only been a single year (1968) when a soldier of the Crown has not been killed while on active service somewhere in the world.
The Numbers Game is a proposal to produce a time based installation within the Derbyshire landscape, ideally over a four year period to mark the period of the war itself. The work is ambitious in dimension and considers the industrial scale in which the Great War was waged. The Numbers Game offers the audience a live experience and brings WW1 to life.
Below is a scenario of a family visiting this site in 2015
Imagine a family arrives at the location somewhere in Derbyshire. They have frequently read about the outdoor installation being created in response to the commemorations that mark the 1914-1918 war. This day trip is not the family’s first visit to the site; they first came to see the installation in August 2014. Along with many other visitors they witnessed the very first white wooden cross being driven into the earth. Without delay, this act was followed by a second cross, then a third, then a forth and thereafter more and more crosses were placed in the ground in rapid succession. This was only the opening salvo of the process and by the end of the first hour 25 crosses were committed to ground; at the end of the first day the number totalled 607. After the first month there were 18,477 crosses and by the conclusion of the first year they totalled 221,734. As each hour passed so more and more crosses began to cover the land.
The family visit the temporary facility especially constructed for the project and they see the building (1) where the crosses are created, observing them being prepared on an industrial scale. The production requirement is relentless...607 per day (2), the same statistic repeated...day in day out. It is a four year assignment for those labouring to create the work. It takes an army of volunteers and employees to feed the mechanism. The family read about the war and also specifically about the project. Over the four year period the number of crosses placed in the landscape will reach 886,939 (each cross accounting for a single military death (3).
With packed lunch in hand, they leave the complex and walk along a series of duck boards towards a white picket fence. They pass through the gate and into the landscape. Ahead of them are the first of many crosses. In the distance there is ‘the rise’ : a natural grassy hill which is still unaffected by the encroaching crosses in the landscape. The family begin to walk amongst the white regimented lines receding into the distance while children play and run in between some of the crosses as they walk. On this particular day they are among many other visitors. As they climb the hill, they allow themselves time to take stock and are astounded at the immensity of the war...
The family ascent the hill and take a picnic on top of the rise. Looking down into the fields below they see the building where the crosses are made. They then turn their attentions upon the people situated among the crosses in the landscape below. Ant like, the volunteers busy themselves in one corner of the pasture....25 crosses an hour. The family see other visitors walking along the lines of crosses and people can be seen sitting down in amongst them, whilst others can be observed lying down as if occupying a soldiers plot. Although all the crosses are anonymous, some have poppy wreaths placed next to them whilst in other cases bunches of flowers have been left by other visitors.
The family (having taken their images) journey back down through the pastures (4) and out through the gate. They pay a final visit to the visitor centre where a member of the family purchases one of the few commemorative items (5) produced for the installation; it is a crested china tank memento (6).
As the family head for home further crosses continue to be added.
By creating the above scenario, hopefully I have helped begin the process of visualisation in terms of the visitor experience and evoke for you the multi layered interactive experience this proposal offers.
For many their introduction to this war will be received through both television and though books (I have little doubt that a whole gamut of documentaries will ensue). It is possible that there will be an increased number of families from the UK who will travel across the English Channel to visit the battlefields of Northern France and Belgium to find the war grave of a distant ancestor; perhaps thereafter they will enter a preserved war time trench, one softened by nature and by time.
For those unable to travel, this proposal offers an experience much closer to home. Audiences are seemingly seeking to experience and share in a collective activity yet they also want that experience to focus upon the individual; we like to take personal ownership of experiences by recording and documenting the experience. I believe this project allows the individual to experience a personal immersive relationship with the work whilst having the opportunity to stand far afield and feel somewhat dwarfed by the enormity of it all.
The practical details regarding how this project can be brought to life and who will be involved, together with detailed logistics and cost breakdowns will become the focus of my attention pending a successful outcome to this application.
Notes
1. I envisage that the facility consists of a workshop (visible to the viewing public), a modest visitor centre incorporating WC’ facilities and (cafe?) in addition an exhibitions facility where information (interactive?) can be exhibited.
2. The logistics of making the crosses in real time (at the point of production) may need to be revised. It is possible that we will need to consider producing them in greater numbers than a 24 hr period allows for. In a logistical sense it is reasonable to assume the facility will not necessarily be working to produce crosses 24-7. I would like to think that the crosses will be installed in the ground 364 days a year.
3. The approximate number of British Military deaths (not including an additional 35,700 from the commonwealth). In 1914 the UK had a population of 45.4 million, in addition to those killed in battle there were 2,000 civilian deaths due to military action and a further 107,000 ‘Excess deaths’ (those who died due to famine, disease and accidents). The total accumulative total was 995,939 or 2.19% of the population. There were a further 1,663,435 UK military wounded, and some 60,000 men suffering from shell shock. (There are conflicting statistics and further research will need to be undertaken to verify the exact number of those killed in WW1).
4. The project actively encourages visitors to walk in the landscape; to this end it may be possible to develop circular walks as the project unfolds.
5. It would be valuable to document the creation of the installation and I would like to find ways of producing visual material, for example a series of postcards and a booklet.
6. The idea is to have produced a specially commissioned Crested China tank made. The contemporary piece proposed is inspired by the china made popular by the factory Falcon Pottery founded by Henry Goss (Stoke on Trent) in the early 20th Century. The souvenir could be made in both an open edition and a limited edition. I would like to consider that a profit made from the sale of this item goes to the Royal British Legion.