Road: Artists and the stop the M11 link road Campaign, 1984 - 1994
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the Arts London
Department Name: London College of Communication
Abstract
In 1984 the Department of Transport invited ACME Studios to offer houses that had been compulsorily purchased prior to the building of the M11 Link Road in East London as residencies for young and emerging artists. The area would subsequently become a focus of the 'anti-road movement' community in the early 1990s and received extensive media coverage. This pilot project will map and scope this largely forgotten history by documenting and analysing the growth of this community and its artistic production from 1984 to 1994. It will also examine the wider context of the artistic community and the legacy of its creative strategies.
Eleven years after the end of the Stop the M11 Link Road campaign, the legacy of the artists who lived and worked in the ACME houses from 1984 onwards is an intriguing one. The largest artists colony between local people, activists, government departments and the police. Artist' work became a symbol of the campaign.
By the early 1990s, the artists saw themselves as local residents, and had created a very specific community. As demolition became imminent, many artists remained, and began to work with activist groups until the violent climax of the campaign, and experienced surveillance and eventual eviction. These events were documented by artists and by activist filmmakers- for instance in John Smith's 1994 film 'Blight', which uses reminiscence and documentary to produce an elegy to a lost community.
The project will investigate how residence on the M11 Link Road site affected artists' production from 1984 to the present, and to establish how far artistic production became a central part of the Stop the M11 Link Road campaign and evaluate its artistic legacy. This pilot phase will produce a number of research incomes and will raise awareness of the artists' colony which emerged from 1984 to 1994. The research outcomes will be disseminated to different audiences and will include a study day and screening of films made by artists during the campaign.
Phase two of the project will be developed during phase one and consists of a book and symposium proposal.
This research is concerned with a significant chapter in the development of recent contemporary art. The movement of artists from West to Central London to the abandoned spaces of the East End signalled the emergence of a new kind of artist and a new kind of art. The utilisation of unwanted or abandoned urban space created new arenas for emerging artists and the creation of viable artists' colonies.
A central part of this initial research will be to explore the dissemination through publication and exhibition of the legacy of ACME artists in El0 and Ell both locally and nationally. The impact of the Stop the M11 Link Road campaign is significant, not only to the artists who lived and worked in the ACME houses, but also to local residents, who became active participants in a fiercely fought legal, and political conflict.
Eleven years after the end of the Stop the M11 Link Road campaign, the legacy of the artists who lived and worked in the ACME houses from 1984 onwards is an intriguing one. The largest artists colony between local people, activists, government departments and the police. Artist' work became a symbol of the campaign.
By the early 1990s, the artists saw themselves as local residents, and had created a very specific community. As demolition became imminent, many artists remained, and began to work with activist groups until the violent climax of the campaign, and experienced surveillance and eventual eviction. These events were documented by artists and by activist filmmakers- for instance in John Smith's 1994 film 'Blight', which uses reminiscence and documentary to produce an elegy to a lost community.
The project will investigate how residence on the M11 Link Road site affected artists' production from 1984 to the present, and to establish how far artistic production became a central part of the Stop the M11 Link Road campaign and evaluate its artistic legacy. This pilot phase will produce a number of research incomes and will raise awareness of the artists' colony which emerged from 1984 to 1994. The research outcomes will be disseminated to different audiences and will include a study day and screening of films made by artists during the campaign.
Phase two of the project will be developed during phase one and consists of a book and symposium proposal.
This research is concerned with a significant chapter in the development of recent contemporary art. The movement of artists from West to Central London to the abandoned spaces of the East End signalled the emergence of a new kind of artist and a new kind of art. The utilisation of unwanted or abandoned urban space created new arenas for emerging artists and the creation of viable artists' colonies.
A central part of this initial research will be to explore the dissemination through publication and exhibition of the legacy of ACME artists in El0 and Ell both locally and nationally. The impact of the Stop the M11 Link Road campaign is significant, not only to the artists who lived and worked in the ACME houses, but also to local residents, who became active participants in a fiercely fought legal, and political conflict.