CHATTERBOX INSTALLATION

MULTICULTURAL CITY PROJECT

ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND FUNDED

The project was developed in partnership with Portsmouth University who delivered student led engagement and practical delivery alongside focused work with community Chat over Chai. The Makers Guild led wider outreach workshops to reach groups across the City.

University led workshops resulted in over 200 completed printed wooden tiles and The Makers Guild workshops produced 146 collages and completed tiles together with six personal benches with artwork incorporated for city wide display at various venues.

The project resulted in including 369 hands on local participants of all ages and abilities to design, build, make and enjoy a two-year temporary public art installation in the centre of Portsmouth. The installation is a mixture of seating and individual artwork made by a wide range of community groups in the city that form an accessible outdoor gallery and meeting place to be used by the public 24 hours a day. Each workshop group made small Portsmouth based collages to be later made into durable printed wooden tiles for display. To support this work each group we worked with also kept a bench with their artwork printed on together with a written connection to the main piece of work at their own regular meeting point. This has enabled a connection to be made from different satellite points around the city back to the main installation, as we felt it was important to have a solid reminder of project involvement by all participants and thus help celebrate their participation and artwork.

Post launch the installation was promoted as part of the created in Portsmouth open studios art trail http://www.createdinportsmouth.org.uk/ which resulted in an open invite to all to enjoy the work.

The open location of the installation and active involvement of the community and other partners in its creation and care has enabled the piece to be accepted very quickly into the fabric of the city, being used daily for resting, meeting, eating, chatting and currently be damage free which can be unusual for temporary public art and something we are proud of.