Small Wonder

GEORGINA COBURN explores the work of artist Geoff Broadway, the second contributor to The Other Side of Air project in Inverness

GEOFF BROADWAY is the second artist to take part in The Other Side of Air – Arts & Spirituality residencies based in Inverness Churches. He has been working for the last 10 weeks with inmates from Inverness Prison and other community groups and creating “Small Wonder” a new mixed media installation.

His recordings of local people discussing what the idea of spirituality means to them forms the basis of his latest work. The installation which incorporates resin, sound, light and projection will be exhibited in the Old High Church Hall at the conclusion of his residency.

Based in the Midlands, Geoff has worked on a diverse range of personal and collaborative projects characterised by his enjoyment of working directly with people in relation to specific sites or local environments.

The artist’s practice includes developing work through human interaction, often in unexpected locations such as his contribution to “The Glasshouse” at Chances Glass Factory, Smethwick (2006). As part of this interdisciplinary and performance piece Broadway developed work incorporating and taking his lead from employees’ personal words and images.

This element of audience engagement in the creation of new work can also be seen in his installation “Behind Thought the Light Shines Bright” (2005), exhibited at The Lighthouse Media Centre, Wolverhampton. Within a darkened space 60 empty light bulbs were illuminated through the thought and action of the audience who added their own personal messages lit up as part of the matrix.

The links between creative process, spirituality and humanity are some of the most fascinating aspects of this whole project

In his sound and light collaboration with artist Bobby Bird, “its like love is” (2004-2006), Broadway explored a range of materials including resin, sound, blue light and motion sensors. The recordings of seven participants speaking about their experience of love formed the core of the experience through seven clear resin orbs.

These were linked by audio soundscapes and interacted directly with the movement of the viewer. Sound and light became more intense as the audience moved around the space and significantly closer to each orb. Here the personal testimonials, interaction of the audience and the way that each of the elements relate to the whole invoke the title of the work and the human experience of love.

Broadway’s approach to his practice is refreshing in a world where both aesthetics and religion are subject to official sanction through gallery, media or church. The function of the artist here is not to sit alone in a garret, on high in the world of Fine Art or celebrity, but to actively engage with other human beings through exploration of craft/ technology and visual art techniques.

These relationships are intended to be both fluid and expansive in nature and form the core of Broadway’s approach to life and art. There is a willingness to forgo predetermined outcomes and let a work evolve based on the involvement of the participants, inclusive but not exclusive to the artist and his identity.

Concepts of Spirituality and Contemporary Art are loaded and for individuals to creatively engage with these ideas an artist’s approach is pivotal. There are many calls for “socially engaged practice” across the UK which is often not a result of natural behaviour on the part of the resident artist but part of satisfying a political agenda.

Whilst the benefit of art in the community is beyond dispute, the best quality of experience derives from social engagement that begins with creative process rather than designated outcome. The artist’s method of working one-on-one with people as a catalyst for new work is intended to provide the starting point for complex exploration.

“The opportunity for people to speak their own truth” is central to Broadway’s approach to the project. The challenge of producing new work in response to local environment and working with community groups within a three month timeframe is an intense and compacted process, especially without pre-existing infrastructure.

Geoff’s approach to the theme of Arts & Spirituality and his working methods are also consistent in terms of approach to materials. The installation prototype that will be exhibited at the conclusion of his 12 week residency will contain a grid of resin panels each with its own imperfections.

In the same way that mechanised production would result in a kind of perfection the suggestion of a human hand and the presence of crafted components in the work are consistent with the artist’s intent. Whilst human aspirations contain a vision of perfection through religion, the media or other means, the artist is adamant that in our perfection-obsessed modern world such unobtainable goals rule out “90% of life”.

The links between creative process, spirituality and humanity are some of the most fascinating aspects of this whole project and form the basis of fundamental questions about the ever present challenge of what Broadway describes as “well being” in modern culture.

The experience of human emotion may seem alien in the often over-intellectualised world of contemporary art, but hopefully this is something that The Other Side of Air and other projects may begin to question.

In many ways Broadway’s practice can be seen as a continuation of oral history traditions, acknowledging and documenting individual experience as a reflection of our time and the commonality of human experience.

Craft, technology, fine art, social documentation and the celebration of human experience are all strong elements in Geoff Broadway’s practice that will be explored in his latest work.

“Small Wonder” will be exhibited at the Old High Church Hall, Academy Street, Inverness from 12-16 November 2007. Exhibition opens 10am-4pm except 15 November, 2pm-8pm. The offical opening is on Monday 12, 7pm-9pm – all welcome.

© Georgina Coburn, 2007

Links

• The Other Side of Air
• Geoff Broadway