Monday, November 29, 2010

Public feedback

I have heard dribs and drabs about how the Wonders of Weston has been recieved in Weston, including having had a couple of newspaper clippings sent to me- but i'd love to hear an update on this blog about what the general feeling seems to be about the project? Whilst googling Wonders of Weston I came accross this blog post by Remap the Map which is also mentioned here, it's interesting to see/hear other people's views on this project and it's impact on the town.

4 comments:

  1. It's strange, and rather depressing, that there doesn't seem to have been much reaction to the project. A lot of the people I've spoken to seem to be either unaware of it or uninterested in it.

    When I was taking some photographs a couple of weeks ago there were quite a few people who were stopping to look at the various works, but none of them stayed very long.

    The Mercury has published a couple of letters for and a couple of letters against, but that's all, apart from a long piece by John Crockford-Hawley, who, I think it's fair to say, isn't enthusiastic. I've written to them about that...

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  2. I agree, particularly as these are not temporary installations. I know for a fact that some of the fellows from Wrights & Sites are interested in how people's perception of Weston has altered.

    I took part in a project in Torbay in the Summer that was part of the same scheme where the locals were a lot more vocal in their response, but that was in part due to the fact that the installation lasted a weekend.

    From what I saw in my brief trip to Weston for the opening, the artists have done a fantastic job in creating work that doesn't intervene with the landscape, but instead complements it. The way these works are received are through accident or chance, stumbling across a sign hidden in a car park, looking closer at an Etchell's etching or catching a certain coastal path at night. Their not landmarks in themselves, nor were they designed to be.

    I agree though a forum for the responses to them needs to be created, perhaps through the wonders of weston site or something in the tourist information office.

    I know for a fact that I see Weston in a whole new light now.

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  3. My Letter to the Weston Mercury (the final paragraph of which only included the word "on" once when I wrote it) can be found here:-

    http://tinyurl.com/2bkfnck

    It doesn't seem to have provoked any reaction, although I suppose that I was being rather optimistic in hoping that it would.

    The NESTA report on creative clusters (http://tinyurl.com/27duhty) is very interesting and probably has important implications for Weston. All we have to do is persuade people to take notice of it and not waste the opportunity that's been presented to us.

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