ARTISTS TALKING

‘The 18th Storey’ is an exhibition of work in five flats in a soon-to-be-demolished 1960’s tower block in Birmingham. The building is positioned in a newly regenerated area of Lee Bank that, over a period of time, has seen the razing of a whole area and the displacement of entire communities.

It is against this backdrop that Behind Closed Doors negotiated the use of a floor of Haddon Tower and created the opportunity of a two-month residency programme for twelve artists. Speaking to the co-organisers of this project it was clear that the agenda for the residency and subsequent exhibition was broad. If there was a specific intention it was that the residency enabled the opportunity for the artists to enter into a dialogue with each other and to respond to the space in terms of its environment, history and architecture. This all seems reasonable but the articulation of these ideas sometimes felt superfluous in light of the personal outcomes in making work. Where the project was most successful was when the artists responded with consideration to the issues which working with this space entailed.

With spectacular views of the city below, it seems difficult to deny the height at which we find ourselves. With this in mind AAS adopt physics equations to calculate the velocity of a paintball dropped from the eighteenth floor. This act repeated over and over is documented and presented on a single monitor in a room collaged with paper cuttings citing Anti Social Behaviour Orders, bullying, poor diet, gangs and yob culture. This information interwoven with references to tower block heights and McDonalds’ locators presents a logical yet ironic examination of the particularity of the place.

Leon Trimble’s installation incorporates the existing aspects of a room with a projection, which takes on the function of a window but removes the architectural elements from our gaze. He presents live surveillance feeds of the view outside which subsequently emphasises the building’s stillness against the activity of the traffic. The work seems to merge both spaces, drawing attention to a possible occupant and the incessant continuum of the city.

Paul Newman’s performance and Elizabeth Rowe’s video are some of the few works that engage with the presence of an occupier or tenant. Newman’s performance is viewed through a security peephole and we are confronted with a bathroom covered in a cheap rococo-esque application of what appears as shaving foam. A strange character is reflected in the mirror and momentarily frozen. Rowe’s video alludes to the visual movement of someone descending the stairs. The focus of the frame on the banisters and the sound of running evident in the increasing repetitions of the clip, echo the giddy descent of a possible eighteen flights.

Soon enough Haddon Tower will be reduced to a paragraph in a history book and some individual memories. Only time will tell how these artists have contributed to the dialogue, on the continual levelling of regeneration.