I want to take you back

I want to take you back to a rather damp cold evening in autumn.
It is 5 November and as the afternoon grows dark you can hear a distant bang, as the first fireworks are lit and spiral into the air. You are walking across a dimly light park and as you start to walk upwards and over the hill you see in the distance lights. You start to walk towards the beacon, you begin to hear crowds of people, and slowly out of the darkness you can make out a line of a structure.
This is The Black Cloud: An imaginative architectural structure designed for Victoria Park.

The Black Cloud is now no longer present in Victoria Park, after being in situ for five months from July-December 2009, but is remembered through the many events that were held in the structure. These events provided the opportunity for the community to gather and socialise. I am going to try and tell a story (although far too brief) of how the project developed.

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What Was the Project?

The Black Cloud was a temporary structure and project developed from an RSA Arts and Ecology Residency that Heather and Ivan undertook in 2007 in Bristol. This residency, which was managed by Situations, afforded a period of time for the artists to meet with environment and ecology organisations in the city and, crucially, to start talking with Situations about how the research could manifest itself as a piece of work.

Heather and Ivan’s series of work called Escape Vehicles also informed their thinking in regards to a new work for Bristol. Escape Vehicles is a body of work that the artists have been working on since 2007. It includes buildings, vehicles and structures that explore the human desire to escape the modern world, which is coupled with their interest in imaging future catastrophes – for example in the post-apocalyptic visions of J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World (1962) and Poul Anderson’s Planet of No Return (1954). Works in this series include I am so sorry. Goodbye. and How to Survive the Coming Bad Years.

So The Black Cloud developed out of a residency that was about supporting the work of the arts in examining and addressing environmental concerns. However, the structure and the project itself was about engaging the public and the local community in looking at and talking about these issues in an alternative form, one which didn’t involve preaching and instructing, but instead encouraged people to imagine alternative futures and speculate about how we as a community might exist and adapt in order to survive.

Coming out of these ideas, The Black Cloud was designed in readiness for a future boiling Bristol, baked dry by a relentless burning sun. Set within this imagined future, the structure was designed to provide protection for the community and offer the possibility to take shade from the extreme heat.

The architectural style of the structure derived from examples of architectural models from a range of different cultures. The artists took their inspiration from vernacular architecture built to withstand extreme environmental conditions such as the Halig Houses of Northern Europe. The irregular oval closely referenced the shabono, a large, thatched structure built by the reclusive Amazonian Indians around an open central communal space that would also create a space in which to perform.

The special treatment to the timber was also ‘borrowed’ – this time from a Japanese process for scorching wood. This technique created a protective shield, but it was also tactile. The treatment left a physical mark in the form of black dust that appeared on your fingers when you touched the structure. It had a powerful presence and, depending on time of day or the weather, the structure at times felt that it was imposing on its surrounding environment or perhaps even seemed disturbing as you approached it.

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Development of the Project

It was a further two years after the end of the 2007 residency before The Black Cloud was erected in Victoria Park. This period enabled funding to be generated and the artists to develop the proposal and for support to be gathered through partners and the community. But time was also needed to find a suitable location in Bristol for the structure to be sited. This process was undertaken through support from Bristol City Council, as the location was key to the project’s success.

It was important that the park in which The Black Cloud was installed had a community who were already invested in their surrounding environment. Victoria Park was chosen because of the considerable community activity that existed in the park. Importantly, there were already local groups present who had been working in the park over a number of years to improve the environment and run a series of annual events. The physical arrangement of the park also provided a key space for the structure, as it would act as a focal point drawing in passers-by and those living in the surrounding area. The immediate landscape provided a sense of scale for the work.

The development period tailored the structure to the immediate context it was eventually sited in. The materials were adapted and honed through a period of testing and experimenting, which saw the structure adapt from a series of metallic panels to one constructed entirely from timber that could cope with the intricate design of the structure. Additional areas were added to the design such as the posts supporting the inner roof. These were implemented after the testing by the structural engineers. The strength of the structure was imperative, as the work had to be anchored securely into the ground, but it also had to withstand the weight of several persons.

The months leading up to the installation of the structure were important, and during this time we were working and liaising with local residents and building support for the project. We used the local bowling club in Victoria Park to call meetings with residents and this enabled the opportunity for Heather and Ivan to talk to local people about the project. It was also a chance for questions and discussion, but it’s important to say that this period was not about gaining approval from residents, or giving them the opportunity to influence the physical appearance of the structure. Rather it was about engaging the residents in the project, building a capacity and generating interest. It was also a way of letting people know that there would be the chance to be actively involved in the installation of the work, and that they could then use the completed structure as a space from which to develop and run their own events.

The liaison involved meetings in the park, corresponding through leaflet drops and going door-to-door to talk to people who lived in close vicinity to the park. The use of the park notice boards also became an important hub of information for local people, and when the structure was in place we also constructed our own notice board that was updated on a weekly basis as a way to continue the processes of communication.

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Installation of the Structure/ Implementation of the Project

The production of the structure itself was in two stages. The first stage was prefabrication, which involved preparation of sections of the structure, which could then be erected in the park over the course of a day. For the prefabrication we used a large production space at Spike Island. The nature of Situations like many commissioning organisations is that we don’t operate from a permanent production or exhibition space, so our partners in Bristol are key to producing projects. The sections of the structure were prepared over the course of a month and we gathered a crew from expertise gleaned from Spike Island and across the City. This crew mostly consisted of local artists who had a range of skills to offer.

The second stage of the production, the period of installing in the park itself, began a few weeks before the final ‘barn-raising’ day when we lifted the pre-prepared sections into their final positions. This initial work in the park was key to establishing secure footings and foundations for the structure. During this initial work the project became visibly public and by this stage it was key to have won the community’s support. We were also keen that the initial ground works were not too disruptive to the daily life of the park, and so we ensured that the residents who lived close by were kept fully informed of the intended work.

Then, on the 25 July last year, Heather and Ivan Morison led a crew of volunteers from dawn till dusk to build a remarkable temporary public artwork for Victoria Park. The focal point of the day was to gather and assist in building the structure, but alongside this there were events such as live music, food foraging, den building and storytelling. Members of the public were encouraged to bring along food to picnic and celebrate the raising of the structure.

The day’s event reflected the traditional Finish talkoot and Amish barn-raising where everyone offers whatever assistance they can manage.

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Events Programme

The Black Cloud is a structure that was built to be used throughout its residence in the park. The barn-raising was the first of the official events that were devised by Heather and Ivan following this was an environmental forum, How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years. This was a gathering of environmentalists, Science fiction writers and futurologists who used the structure as a venue discuss our future in the face of dramatic climate and economic change. The Morisons also brought their house truck and the afternoon involved a workshop to encourage children to draw their imagined futures from The Black Cloud. The final day of the project consisted of a puppet performance at dusk held inside the structure. For this Heather and Ivan Morison worked with a Bristol based puppet company Full Beam Visual Theater to script a new performance based on a mythical story.

The programme acted as a catalyst for debate and discussion about the future of Bristol and possible alternative scenarios. In Heather and Ivan’s words it aimed to address the call that we as individuals and communities need to face up to inevitable – and possibly catastrophic – change, and look towards ways of adapting to survive these changes.

Alongside the official event programme the community were encouraged to programme the structure. Some of the events included music afternoons, birthday parties, the use of the structure as part of the local art trail, as well as yoga at daybreak.

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Conclusions

The structure was a distinct focal point on the horizon line. It could be seen from a great distance, and on the day of the barn-raising people were drawn to it because they could see it from their houses and wanted to come and find out what was happening. One of the starting points when we decided to select Victoria Park as the site for the project was the once existing band-stand that had at one time drawn the local community together. Building on this historical structure provided one element of the context for The Black Cloud and the potential for the work to act as a catalyst for social engagement, but through an alternative and new architectural form.

Throughout the project we undertook a series interviews with those involved with the project this included both Heather and Ivan. To conclude I wanted to read you an extract from Heather’s interview. In this section she is responding to a question related to how the community used the structure.

So I have no expectation, absolutely none whatever. I do my job and I fairly believe that, in life generally, when you make the best of what you can do, all the time, and you continue doing that, you will have some impact on the world.

It was important to join people together through the idea of a shelter and we hoped that ownership would grow stronger through watching the structure being built or being involved in the building. So, what happened during The Black Cloud’s residency in the park was perfect for us. We wanted people to take responsibility for the structure; and decide what they wanted to do and how they wanted to respond.

At the beginning of this project it was very important to work with the existing communities that were invested in Victoria Park. However, during the project and through the events, it came apparent that The Black Cloud as a structure and event framework had the potential to gather its own distinct community. This community of The Black Cloud was one that consisted of a diverse audience, from those working in the art world in Bristol and nationally, to families who lived close by to the park. Teenagers made use of the structure in the evenings, dog walkers sheltered in it from the rain and it was used on the 11 September as a site for an informal vigil.

By the end of the project the work had come to exist in people’s everyday vocabulary. I will meet you by the cloud and children developed fond nicknames such as the woodlouse. Towards the close of the project we had received many emails from local residents asking for the structure to be a permanent fixture in the park, it had become a landmark in the area, one, which had the ability to draw people together.

To end I thought I would show a short time-lapse film of the building of The Black Cloud on 25 July. The film is about 6 minutes long and I would be happy to take any questions afterwards. Thank you.

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