DELAYED POSTING

Sadly once Swindon Pop Up had finished I was back in the studio on a back log of work so haven't been able to finish off with a final analysis of the 8 days.  When things have cleared up a bit I'll do that and get back up to more Wiltshire Pop Up nonsense, this time Wiltshire wide rather than Swindon based.


In the meantime you might be interested to read Rob Ryan's personal blogspot on his visit to the gallery and Swindon during week 1.


You Can Still do a lot with a Small Brain

A day off in Swindon is good for you

WEEK 2 DAY 5 exhibit

Artist Meryl Ainslie joined Pop Up today and after recent trips around the old Regents Circus and Victoria Hill campuses of Swindon College she has made 2 luscious photo sequences of the old building and beautiful wax casts of the small and lesser seen parts of the building. 

For the Wiltshire Pop Up point of view read below;

DEVELOPMENT, DECAY AND DESTRUCTION

Visiting the derelict Swindon College buildings on Regents Circus and Victoria Road we respond to what we can and what we choose to see.  Each person will see a different world in the desolate melancholia or ecstatic joy which breathes out of every surface.

The 1890s Technical College is listed and will be saved while the 1960s annexe building will be demolished.  There might be a case to save them both but just as much of Victorian Swindon was laid waste to the trends and fashions of the 1970s now the most distinctive architecture of that time becomes dust.  Across the road seemingly sparkling in its newness is Swindon Library, the pride and future of the Borough we are told.

What evidence is there of the beginnings of the old Technical College, can we see anything of its original ethos or of the people who went there to teach or learn?  It seems the final users leave the greatest mark on a building.  Walking around the disused site there are signs of hard work and industry that would have formed the day to day of college life in the offices, workshops and broken equipment.  The alumni can hardly be seen, in the dereliction what we find are the things nobody wanted, abandoned artworks, textbooks and pages of writing.  The most striking images are left by the night time invaders who break security to wallow in vandalism and wrecking.  These people write their names up large, break doors and smash through wall panels. Exposing one room to another or to the outdoors where the world is less static and oblivious to the crunching of feet over the bones of the past.  Out of this seemingly wanton destruction there is beauty, a trail of paint, electrical fittings wrenched from ceilings and walls all have the wonder and charm of unrecognisable artefacts from an ancient Egyptian tomb. 

Do the wreckers really know what they are doing? Maybe, as they sign their names just as an artist might in the corner of a painting.  They use spray paint, marker pen and even their own shit.  Approbation they might never have had before, these buildings were for the benefit of the town but not the whole town could use them.  Those that were excluded can now climb through a broken window and say, ‘here at last’ and claim the place if only for a night.  Or do they resent a place they once loved being given over to the commercial interests of developers; are they angry that it is no longer theirs?  After all what harm is there in destroying a building which is waiting for annihilation?

Government departments will happily let their buildings go to ground and vandals help them in the process.  The power of destruction must be equally exhilarating to both.

Let us know what you think about the new development.

WEEK 2 DAY 5

1 DAY TO GO and Wiltshire Pop Up will be joined by artist Meryl Ainslie who has been revisiting the old Swindon College sites at Victoria Hill and Regents Circus.  It's a chance to look at an old building in a new way and consider the future at these much loved sites. 

More to come on Days 6, 7 & 8.

WEEK 1 IS ALMOST LOST

Week 1 of Wiltshire Pop Up at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery went very quickly but all is not quite lost.  Four accompanying videos which were shown in the gallery each day are available to see on the WEEK 1 page to the right.


Day 2 looked at things lost with  a collection of items from the lost property department of Thamesdown buses.  Visitors were also asked to record things they had lost via post it note on the galllery wall, here is an example for more go to page LOST on the right.

If you have lost something, don't expect Witlshire Pop Up to find it, but do tell and send to wiltshirepopup@gmail.com

Photo from Day 2

Some visitors to Day 2 sent this photo which shows a view through the cabinet of Lost Property to someone watching the DVD relating to the first 4 days.

 

COUNTDOWN

day to go

and 

Wiltshire Pop Up 

hits

Swindon Museum and Art Gallery


starting Wednesday 7th September
at 10 am until 5 pm.

Wednesday features the invasion of a little known museum from the heart of Wiltshire

Thursday is a good day to go if you have lost something

Friday stars an artist and her creepy obsession

On Saturday there is a special guest with some of his mechanical friends.

COUNTDOWN

DAYS TO GO

Wiltshire Pop Up comes to Swindon Museum and Art Gallery

Starting on Wednesday 7th at 10 am.

An invasion from a little known and unusual museum in Wiltshire

COUNTDOWN

STARTING AT SWINDON MUSEUM AND ART GALLLERY on

WEDNESDAY 7TH SEPTEMBER between 10am and 5pm each day.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

SOMETHING STARTLING

SOMETHING SOMETHING

MEMORIES

Anyone have a memory of this museum that remembered things agricultural.  The poster somehow looks as dated as the stuff that was probably on show.

SWINDON STORY 09

09

I was recently browsing in a Swindon charity shop when I came across a copy of the children’s book Pepper and Jam by Reginald Pepper. 

To read more go to the SWINDON STORIES page on the right.