Eye of the River by Jill Randall

Monday 1 December 2008

Lucy Bergman - Installation and Multimedia

“Now, I have been slightly shy
but I can smell a pinch of hope…”

It’s like Burnley admitting her secret to you and inviting you to look a little closer isn’t it?

There has been a sense of hope building in Burnley for some time and more than any other area I’ve worked in and it seems to be building on creative sparks rather than bricks. Although I have recently moved, I was born in Burnley and over the years have spent a lot of time walking or hanging about on the streets, either as a youth trying to find some place to sit and be with friends or as adult trying to talk to youths about where they would like to sit and be with friends!

The thing that has always struck me is how often I get lost! I seem to think I know exactly where I’m going but will end up under a fly over, down a dead end street or round the back of some factory or other thinking “I was sure this was the right way” It’s like Burnley chooses to move around while you’ve got your back turned, as if she just wants to mix it up a little so you don’t forget about all her little short cuts and secret places.

(Lifts up her petticoats, shows you her Adidas and sits back down in a different place)

I would love to be part of the Hiddenplace project, being able to just respond entirely in my own way to the hidden corners and layers of Burnley fills my brain with possibility. It feels intimate and mysterious yet playful.

The idea of creating a little secret, a beguiling or confounding art work left out there in the open, in an otherwise overlooked place is fascinating and exciting. To make a place into a thing of beauty even for a short time by putting a little piece of yourself into it is very appealing, especially if it is a spark that along with others could start a chain reaction and electrify a whole town!

Over the years I have been involved in lots of community engagement and process led projects. This has been incredibly valuable and exciting in its own way but it is rare that I have been able to react and create something in my own way, I’ve generally had to facilitate the expression of other peoples ideas. I do feel it would be important to interact with people in some way, to not isolate the work or the audience but it feels refreshing to have such an open brief.

For this project I’d like to think of myself as a kind of translator or narrator on behalf of the particular space. I’d want to try and find a way to connect and delight people by capturing the essence of an emotion or a moment of beauty and suggesting our shared emotional experiences of the world around us. I like to draw attention to the narrative that exists between people and places, between buildings and landscape, between objects and universal themes. I suppose I am a romantic and can’t help but try to create a poem from the dialogue of everyday life. I like how extraordinary the ordinary can become if you just take the time, not just to look, but to see it, frame it, hear it and stop to drink it in for a moment.

I don’t like to pin myself down to one art form in particular as I prefer to realise ideas using whatever art form seems the most appropriate or beautiful. I think about an idea and then puzzle out how to manifest it within budget I suppose! I tend to use film, words and handmade objects a lot. I use super 8 and digital film, create stop-frame animations with objects, drawings and models, I write poems, prose and stories and make books. I also sing, make music, dance and have lots of conversations with people.

I am a highly organised, reliable, hardworking and resourceful person and up for nearly any creative challenge, I would be very happy to have the opportunity to take part in this project…So I hope to hear from you!

lucy


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hey lucy...
yeah, i'm glad you're involed as well, only just noticed you'd left a comment... i left standish street to work at my dads, same malarky but in nelson so if you need anything printing bring it along and i'll be happy to do it...
take care and i'll see you soon
hope we get to work together
daniel