PREVIEW: Situation Rhubarb Presents… Built Around You

By Jack Gilbert on October 25, 2012 in Art & Design

Heaton has all the classic amenities of the student area. A quick glance at any particular window will instantly reveal linings of emptied liquor bottles, they perhaps serve as trophies to the heroic lives of the residents who dwell within. Year on year students jump from terraced house to terraced house in the area, and with the constantly fluxing environment, four up and coming artists have decided to create a residential art project built around the wider history and background of the area and the house itself.

The project is backed by Situation Rhubarb, which is a visual arts organisation which focuses upon supporting young regional artists. It is a foundation which often supports work outside of the gallery setting, and Built Around You can certainly fall into that category.

Having all at one point or another lived in Heaton, the artists, Alex Hanson-Deakin, Rachel Maloney, Claire Rowlands and Rebecca Travis, all have an evident connection with the place. They have chosen a house (188 Simonside Terrace) to feature their work for their residency whichpreviews this Friday October 26th, and runs its residency from Saturday 27th October – Friday 2nd November, 11am – 6pm.

The key focus of Built Around You, is to explore the house itself and look into the idea of the ephemeral student living within these typical terraced abodes. The project will also look at the wider environment and the traces which these students leave behind as they constantly up and leave to move on to pastures new.

I find this concept of exploring the fleeting life of the student home to be refreshing, as it is certainly an area which has not been covered extensively before. Furthermore, given the ostensibly meaninglessness of modern day student living, the project takes on even more significance.

Built Around You launches this Friday October 26th, and runs until Friday November 2nd.

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