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7/31/2019 Lost Cuckoo, in Mailout Magazine June-July 2012
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7/31/2019 Lost Cuckoo, in Mailout Magazine June-July 2012
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The Barn
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Blackburn, BB2 6LX
01254 674777
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Robert Howell
Sue Robinson
Lyndsey Wilson
Claire Williams
Kajol LallyCulturapedia
Main photo: Lakes Alive at
Whitehaven courtesy of
Legacy Trust UK
Thumbnail: The Lost Cuckoo
Project Credit: 2hD Architects
& Marcus Rowlands
is the national
magazine for peopledeveloping participation in
the arts. The Mailout Trust
aims to promote and advance
the practice, understanding
and profile of high quality
participatory arts in the UK.
The Mailout Trust Ltd is a
company Ltd by Guarantee.
Registered in England No.
5252801
ISSN 2048-2647
Contents
Artman 3
Postcard from the editors 3
Funding 50
4
Kajol Lally interviews Chief Executive of LTUK
10
Bedford Creative Arts mission to resurrect a
declining craft
14
One artist and three architects collaborate with
cardboard
20Anfield builds a stronger community
23
Filip Van Huffel challenges typical conventions
of choreography
33
Presenting theatre in its purest form
37
Share their love of crafting their surroundings
40
Unleash their interactive arts programme for
2012
42
Contacts festival shapes the next generation of
artists
25mailout starts the debate on the latest ACE fund
44Adele Thomas on her personal journey ofrediscovery for one forgotten town
7/31/2019 Lost Cuckoo, in Mailout Magazine June-July 2012
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As the UK is frantically
preparing for an Olympiad
summer and Arts Council
England is drowning under an
overwhelming demand for
Grants for the Arts, your editors
have headed for a short break in
Bavaria. Weve not seen
much evidence of
participatory arts but
have a couple of
interesting observations
to pass on.
The Olympics were here in
1972. The Olympiapark is
still a major leisure andsporting complex, just to
the north of the city. As
we passed through it was
hosting the 2012 Special
Olympics Deutschland.
We stopped to watch
some swimming and
cycling.
Our other find was the statue of
Roland De Lattre, Court
Composer to Ludwig the First of
Bavaria, which has become an
impromptu shrine to Michael
Jackson. Ludwig had a passion
for the arts and his downfall
came at the hands of the Irish
dancer, Lola Montez.
Presumably the fact that De
Lattre was a composer has
inspired Jacksons mourners.
This is an example of the
community taking something
over for their own needs. Roland
is still there and none of themessages cover his name. It is
all intact with fresh flowers,
endless messages and
photographs. Munich is a very
liberal city in a very
conservative Bavaria. Whilst not
really able to understand the
devotion of Jacko fans we loved
the expression and the tolerance
of it.
greetingsfromb
avaria
7/31/2019 Lost Cuckoo, in Mailout Magazine June-July 2012
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: At our first
real meeting I brought a book
on cardboard architecture but
remember thinking: I have no
idea where this is going. Therewas no head scratching just
an immediate response that we
wanted to work together and
would use cardboard.
In the working
relationship I knew that you
two would hit it off but of
course you didn't know each
other. But it worked!
Working with you two
enabled a sense of security,
coming from being able to
visualise the ideas. At the same
time our conversations were
often challenging or
befuddling; we'd sometimes
take a direction I didn't expect
and I'd need some time
afterwards to digest andassimilate what had happened.
Most successful for us was
that it came together without a
particular brief, it was very
open at the start. That was
quite scary for us because in
our practice there are always
parameters and restrictions to
what we can do... often all
predetermined before wearrive. This was a step into the
unknown. It was all about the
people involved.
That's also about your own
humility as a practice. Working
with you both brought about a
very different rigour to my
thinking and approach. This
was highlighted in your need tovisually represent each others
thoughts. Most of my thoughts
stay in my head, as I do not
have to share them as
consistently as you. I found it
shocking at first: the noise of
someone typing, talking and
drawing all at the same time I
thought it was going to be
dynamically incompatible.
Working as a group of three
was hard at times...
With Thibaut living in
Serbia we really tried to think
cardboard
collaboration
7/31/2019 Lost Cuckoo, in Mailout Magazine June-July 2012
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cardboardcollaboration
Parents during
an experimentaldesign workshop,
at Brocklewood
Junior School
(Nottingham,
UK)
how best to share what was
happening in the design
sessions in schools, but also
what we were thinking. We set
up a web cam hanging fromthe ceiling to show the pictures
and thoughts.
I remember Thibaut and I
called you and we were going
round and round with ideas
and responses to the families
creations. You finally said: 'Is
there a question you want to
ask me?
It was useful to have one of
us on the outside, ideas did not
get lost; instead we moved
them on to another level. You
need people you trust, to give
you an opinion on your ideas.
This is some kind of antithesis
to conventional architectural
training, which puts the
architect at the centre of
things. In this view at the
centre of everyone's minds willbe the design generated from
the genius of the architect.
But of course it ain't like that! I
imagine to some extent that
the role of artist is sometimes
seen the same way. You are an
individual, you are your own
brand and it's all about what
you do.
When you are an artist you
are doing it for yourself. Assoon as you step into working
in the community you realise
that this would not work. In our
collaboration we were all clear
This is some kind of antithesis to conventional
architectural training, which puts the architect
at the centre of things. In this view at the centre
of everyone's minds will be the design
7/31/2019 Lost Cuckoo, in Mailout Magazine June-July 2012
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from the beginning that the
exciting bit was placing the
families in the middle.
I think when they turned up
they weren't expecting that but
they very soon got it. There are
some boxes. Please begin!' And
they did.
We were walking around
trying to grasp how quickly
they were moving things
forward. To me it was like they
were sketching for us Think
about the physicality of the
Dads and their need to build
high. Remember the two Mums
who wrapped and wrapped
boxes creating a massive
volume the size of a room. The
success was based on
everyones enthusiasm and the
fact that we were all learning
from each other.
The activity was absorbing
and it was easy to forget the
normal constraints. The
excitement of rapid progress in
the building, balanced with the
uncertainty of what was going
to happen, whether it was
going to fall, or not fit
We actively gave them
permission to explore and
made it clear we would be
documenting the process to
influence our thinking. Even
when Thibaut got concerned
about people using canes to
stab the boxes, it informed our
design choices. I think the
material choice was right.
Cardboard was familiar and
light
At the beginning,
remember, one of the aims was
to not lose the familiarity of
the box. I wonder whether this
was its success. It's a box
without a corner, away you
go We could have easily
complicated it with fixings,
decorations, etc.
Even though we say its just
a cardboard box, the process it
went through was fundamental
to the end result. We had a
relationship with it.
There would be no
challenge without the corner
detail. I remember two boys
working together and they
found themselves right on the
edge throughout the
experience. Their parent was
concerned about the closeness
cardboard
collaboration
Experimenting
with the
cardboard
construction
modules in
public spaces
(Nottingham,UK)
7/31/2019 Lost Cuckoo, in Mailout Magazine June-July 2012
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cardboard
collaboration
of a fight breaking out. No, a
cardboard box would not do
that.
Alongside the permission
to explore, there was the
notion of holding a space for
the families. It seemed key to
allowing them to zoom off
confidently and get engaged
with the project.
Can you
explain what you mean exactly
by holding the space?
You do not actually instruct
people, you can just create
some conditions within which
they can be creative. Space
where there is nothing to
constrain you.
It is something that is
important in my practice and
that of a few others, but I don't
think it is a valued or
recognised enough, mainly
because it is just too slippery. A
lot of projects fail because they
don't recognise the importance
of that stage: they value the
doing and the product, but notthe skill and time involved in
creating a space that allows
creativity to develop.
A lot of projects fail because
they don't recognise the
importance of that stage: they
value the doing and the
product, but not the skill and
time involved in creating a
space that allows creativity todevelop.
This space that is held It
might involve a physical space
but not necessarily, it is a
creative space or imaginary
space that people can occupy
Yes, it is working on anenergetic level within a space.
An awareness of this is needed
on projects like The Lost Cuckoo
because you are dealing with
so many different individuals.
As soon as someone signs up
to do a workshop, anything
could happen; that needs to be
recognised rather than abused
or overlooked.
Working with the public is
something we often dont dare
do, as there is a big expectation
about an architects
involvement.
Our practice clients may
not always be obviously
vulnerable, but by inviting us
along to design something for
them they are makingthemselves vulnerable. They
You do not actually instruct people, you can
just create some conditions within which theycan be creative. Space where there is nothing to
constrain you.
Experimental
design
workshop, at
Portland
Primary School
(Nottingham,
UK)
7/31/2019 Lost Cuckoo, in Mailout Magazine June-July 2012
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are opening up to us finding
out about them, and we can
end up influencing their lives.
Do you allow yourself that
same vulnerability in theprocess or do you find that you
have to play the role of the
professional to reassure them?
It is an interesting mix to
get right. If we invite their
expertise about their needs we
can come across sounding like
we don't know any answers.
Given that we've probably
been hired to give them theanswer, thats a tricky
conundrum! The Lost Cuckoo
project has taught us a lot
about the value of not being
the controlling professional.
MR: This comes full circle back
to the idea of ethos. Some
people get frightened by not
knowing what the outcome will
be, and just won't give me the
work. When I work with peoplewho value the not knowing and
the letting go, the work just
sails.
What I love witnessing is
the building-up of energy and
quality of attention in families
that get entrenched in an
activity and a location over a
period of time. Could this be
done with a moving-trail type
activity?
It could be a question ofcreating a necklace of different
sites that have their own
unique qualities. Each site
could give the opportunity for
people to become entrenched
in it.
There is a chaos within a
designated, protected space
which means it is much more
acceptable to create there thanat random sites
But how can we factor-in
the response people have to
different places? I am
fascinated by people doing
something different in reaction
to a particular place...
What is our level of
involvement? With the Lost
Cuckoo I felt like I did very little
at the festival. I would like to
see if this open approach could
be applied to more permanentspaces and the use of harder
materials than cardboard. I like
the idea of creating a walk
where you create friction at
certain points that make you
change course or action.
How far could you take
people on a journey without
being present? For instance,
how do you hold and expandspace, whilst allowing freedom
for people to be creative? How
do you remove yourself, whilst
giving freedom to interact
without being inhibited?
What I love witnessing is the building-up of
energy and quality of attention in families that
get entrenched in an activity and a location
over a period of time.
cardboard
collaboration
The Lost Cuckoo
at the Wheee!
International
Childrens'Theatre and
Dance
Festival at
Nottingham's
Lakeside Arts
Centre. (June
2011,
Nottingham,
UK)
7/31/2019 Lost Cuckoo, in Mailout Magazine June-July 2012
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cardboard
collaboration
Could we work with small groups and create a
series of interventions to explore? The site could
move rather than the activity being different.
Leaving a trail of devastation and creation
behind us as we go
I want to be the one rowing a boat carrying
the boxes. Where we land is where we build
As long as I can carry a blow torch.
On a bike
Experimenting
with the
cardboard
constructionmodules in
public spaces
(Nottingham,
UK) Credit: 2hD
Architects &
Marcus
Rowlands
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