Artwork that is out of the ordinary

27 October 2015

Kent isn’t called the Garden of England for nothing. Its landscape of rolling hills, fruit-laden orchards and abundance of hop gardens give the home county the name it deserves. Its beauty will also soon be at the centre of a project to encourage more people getting involved in the arts.

Residents of Iwade, Sittingbourne, Strood and the Isle of Grain are being invited to take part in Out of the Ordinary Places which has commissioned four artists to create innovative work, shaped by local people.

From October through to December, artists Lucy Joyce, Ruth Ewan, Richard Houguez and Mikhail Karikis will each develop new work with the participation of local communities culminating in public performances, screenings and events.

Lucy Joyce will create her first public commission in Sittingbourne. Having completed an MA at the Royal College of Art in 2013, she was selected for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries in 2014 and the London Open, recently at the Whitechapel Gallery.

I hope to help explore ideas, methods and ways of working that can inspire the community’s interest in contemporary art
Lucy Joyce

From October 10, Lucy will be at the helm of performances and workshops in Sittingbourne where local residents will be decorating their town, creating large scale billboards and theatrical building backdrops. The notion of what a blue sky is will be explored, inviting us all to look upwards as a powerful act of hope.

Her Blue Skies culminates in a film of the same title. A public screening will take place on 25 November. Lucy says: "Visiting Sittingbourne, I felt an extreme sense of community values, engagement and the desire to progress as a place. As an artist, my interest is not to bulldoze through the town, make an artwork and leave, but to bring contemporary art to a community at its source, build relationships and start a conversation that can continue throughout and beyond the project. I hope to help explore ideas, methods and ways of working that can inspire the community’s interest in contemporary art."

Ruth Ewan has previously worked with historians, traditional crafts people, horticulturalists, archaeologists, musicians, bakers and children. Her practice explores histories of radical, political and utopian thought, bringing to light specific ideas in order to question how we might live today. Residents of Strood are invited to share their skills and knowledge of the town’s heritage, hidden histories and myths past and resent to be weaved into a subversive pantomime for the town.

We hope to create a project which channels some of these findings whilst also causing a local rupture in knowledge and collective action
Ruth Ewan

She will reveal NoTail in Strood on 22 December, the Winter Solstice, the natural order of things is reversed . Created via workshops, the townsfolk of Strood are invited to devise a pantomime to be performed
at Temple Manor, a 13th century manor house, mummified by a 21st century industrial estate. The performance will be co-created by Strood residents working with and learning from a creative team of experts in theatre performance, lighting, set costume design, prop-making and puppetry.

She says: "We’ve begun a course of conversations with local people, research at Medway Archive and other national archives, gathering local folklore, traditions and myths. We hope to create a project which channels some of these findings whilst also causing a local rupture in knowledge and collective action – to make something happen here, unique to this town and this extraordinarily poignant place."

Mikhail Karikis has a strong track record of creating striking and memorable work with participants. For Out of the Ordinary Places, he will create his commission on the Isle of Grain in conjunction with the Whitstable Biennale 2016. Engaging with the underground music initiatives organised by the young people of Grain village.

There is an enthusiasm and passion for music; their drive and creativity inspires this work
Mikhail Karikis

He says: "Young people in the area are discovering creative ways to overcome the challenges of Grain’s remote landscape. They belong to the most virtually connected, monitored and surveyed generation that has ever existed, yet these inspiring young people are creating something that is physically real and embodied, and which strives to exist in the limited space between surveillance and its evasion. There is an enthusiasm and passion for music; their drive and creativity inspires this work."

Mikhail’s research will culminate in a new work that will be shared on the Isle of Grain on December 11.

Richard Houguez will be based in Iwade inviting residents to guide him round the area via a series of one-to-one walks, based on the tradition of 'beating the bounds'. The project, Wend Iwade is a live programme of events, workshops and residencies hosted by artists, musicians, archeologists and residents that explores Iwade’s changing identity.

Fellow artist Holly White will be furthering this exploration of the landscape and Musician Maxie Gedge will be bringing history to life via contemporary folk storytelling and singing. Says Houguez: “Iwade has a keen sense of history, both natural and cultural. It is a well networked rural community using online platforms and an active website that receives community contributions. First impressions are that people have a lot of drive towards making things happen and a keen sense of Iwade’s present narrative, but perhaps with many questions and unknowns; it appears the current state of Iwade in development is new territory for many”.