Mark Foley worked with Shape East recently, when they ran the third in their
series of Kettle's Yard workshops, using guest professionals to bring to life
built environment topics for primary and secondary schools.
The Space Makers
Project follows the building process of the new Education Wing at Kettle's Yard,
Cambridge. Over a two-year period, Kettle's Yard are working with two schools, two artists, Shape East and project
evaluators Flow Associates. The
project will see the artists work to creatively develop the knowledge and
skills of the young people in the fields of architecture and the built
environment. Different built environment professionals will be involved in each
session, to support the artists and provide their professional expertise.
In March, the Comberton Village College BTEC Art and Design
pupils met with Mark Foley to delve into the world of demolition
and deconstruction, led by artist Raksha Patel. They discovered how buildings are
demolished and the emotive response felt by those experiencing the sight of a
demolished building as well as the demolishers. These were linked to artists
such as Gordon Matta-Clark (Anarchitecture), Do Huh So and Mike Nelson. Video clips of 1960’s tower blocks
being demolished in the 70’s and 80’s introduced the young people to the awe
surrounding the act of demolition leading to the impact that the footage of the
Twin Towers made on the world. The pupils led their own deconstruction session,
tearing, scrunching, cutting, taping, reforming, drawing and re-assembling.
They created sculpture, which others destroyed and recreated to explore issues
of transformation, fragmentation and meaning.