strange behaviour ...

two nights ago i was making my way down Westborough heading wearily home from the station ... as I passed a shop doorway just past Aberdeen Walk I noticed a man stood clutching a white plastic bag ... he was wearing a wool hat, he was perhaps in his late 50s ... i walked on not really giving him much thought ...

within a few paces or so I was aware of someone walking a few feet behind me ... well people often do ... however as I walked on, I could see from the reflections in the shop windows that the person behind me was the man who had been standing in the shop doorway ... no matter I thought, he too is on his way home, he will walk past me soon ... but he didnt ...

he stayed the same distance behind me ... so i wandered into the middle of the street .... the man followed me, keeping the same distance ... i wandered back to the side of the street ... he followed me ...

so i crossed over to the far side of the street, again the man followed ... I walked on a bit further then stopped to look in a shop window ... he did exactly the same ...

we continued on our way playing this game of cat and mouse , me crossing back and forth, stopping to look in a shop window, doubling back round a planter, he following me at the same distance ...

until as we passed Subway he darted into a doorway and stopped ...

I stood at the traffic lights waiting for the green man, but then I decided to walk back up the hill past him towards Marks and Spencers ... as I passed him I could sense that he was undecided as to whether to follow me or not ... he stayed in the doorway ...

I turned around and walked past him to the traffic lights, trying to look into his face for some clue, a smile, a scowl, an acknowledgement ... but he stared at the floor ...

I crossed the road at the traffic lights and stopped and looked back ... an elderly man passed him in the doorway, and after a few seconds, my shadowy follower stepped out, and took up his position a fw paces behind the man, and together they wandered back up Westborough ...

... a future for the Futurist?

I enjoy serendipity, the pleasure of the unknown, how one thing leads unexpectedly to another ...

Lucy Dusgate at Lumen had asked if I could take some photographs to assist one of the artists who has been commissioned as part of the imove project ...

and so it came to pass that on Friday I found myself in the company of Andrew and Colin at the Futurist Theatre, Scarborough ... ah the Futurist 

 .... 2100 seats, 70mm projector, a cinema and theatre crying out for a future ...

it should be the jewel in a regional and national cinematic crown, the centrepiece of a Scarborough film festival, with Scarborough as the Cannes of the north, Sandside as La Croisette,  red carpets, premieres, movie stars ... or perhaps Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo?

who knows what the possibilities might be?  

well it turns out that a serious possibility is that this gem will be demolished.  

Intrigued by the Futurist and wanting to know more, I went along this evening to a talk given by Scarborough Council Strategic Director David Archer to the Castle Ward Tenants and Residents Association.  

He set out the process which would lead to the council "Task Force" making a recommendation on the future of the Futurist.  He laid great stress on how transparent the process will be (always worrying when a Council officer mentions transparency as frequently as he did) and on the contribution that the expert consultants retained by the Council will make (even mor worrying when a Council Officer mentions "experts" as frequently as he did).  

It was clear to me from his vocabulary, from his body language, and from his prickly response to my statement that the Futurist lies within the Conservation Area (my mistake, alas it doesnt) that his preference is for the Futurist to be demolished.  He pointed the audience at the reams of paper that have been generated by "experts" since 1995.  These can all be accessed on the Scarborough Council website (follow this link)

However, perhaps this is will not happen.  There are two campaigns running to ensure that the Futurist is retained:  this one by the Scarborough Evening News (hope that is still a current campaign!);  and a facebook campaign (definitely current).  

In addition, an "Alternative Task Force" is now up and running to offer a counter-point to the Scarborough Council "Task Force".  This group intends to submit an application to have the Futurist designated as a Listed Building (read about it here).

You can read more about the history of the Futurist here, here, and on wikipedia.  The official Futurist website gives details about the future programme ...

so perhaps all is not lost and there is a future for the Futurist ... I will return to this subject again ...

The Last Supper (part 2)

... interest from the media in the Last Supper was intense (it was on the BBC national news). I will post some of my images and video of the Last Supper later.

Around the table were Kane, a photographer (Joe Cornish), a curator (Jan Brown), a fisherman (Fred Normandale), a musician (John), the daughter of the previous owner of the house (Anne), a politician (Clare Short), artistic director of the SJT (Chris Monks), a writer priest and exorcist (GP Taylor), a businessman and gallery owner (Brian), the chef (James) and an archaeologist/artist (me)

I enjoyed the event. However I dont think that we addressed adequately the issue of living on the edge. We touched on issues of sustainability and climate change, but we didnt explore how Kane' s project both informs and forms part of the debate. There we were, sitting physically on the edge of the abyss. In that place, it became very obvious to me that we humans are a brief evolutionary intervention in the life of this planet. And that just as the space we ate in is set for destruction, so we as a species are set for extinction. On 23rd December 1956 there were 2.8 billion humans alive on this planet. At 6pm on the 20th March 2010, one estimate is that there would be 6,808,602,365 humans* alive on this planet. Their need for energy to provide decent living conditions is relentlessly driving anthropogenic climate change.

The debate did touch on some really vital issues. In particular the problems faced by the fishing industry were passionately explained by Fred Normandale. He argued that fish stocks are improving, that the scientific research is out of step with the real conditions in the North Sea, that the quota system means that tons of dead fish are dumped at sea, and that the limit of the number of days at sea is wrecking livelihoods and the future of the fleet in Scarborough. Clare questioned his evidence but there was agreement that the loss of the fishing industry would be devastating. Let us hope that fishing does not go the way of mining and steel; memory and "heritage".

Kane had covered one wall of the room with envelopes containing letters written by a class of 11 year olds. The letters were addressed to the house. Many had DO NOT OPEN written on them. There were lot that could be opened, and Kane gave each of us a letter to read out. Some of the letters were deeply moving. They appeared to address real events of loss in the lives of the children. Or were they all fiction; creative writing inspired by the idea that the house will fall into the sea? We debated this at some length.

And in no time at all the event was over.

what's hapening at the moment ...

At 330pm today, Saturday 20th March, I will take part in the Last Supper. Scarborough-based artist, Kane Cunningham, has purchased a bungalow at Knipe Point. The property is destined to fall into the sea at some point in the not too distant future (with luck not this afternoon) ... Kane is using the property as a studio, as an artwork, as a project space, and today as the venue for the Last Supper.

Elsewhere, the Artist in the Archive project is gathering pace. The exhibition, Mesolithic Interventions, opens on Monday 19th April in the Studio Space, York Art Gallery and will run for two weeks.

Seven years ago today the war against Iraq started. The run up to the start of war was marked by huge protests across the country. This short video, a compilation of events over three days in March 2003 shot on a very low-resolution camera, gives a feeling for what happened in York.

At the moment its raining. I can just see Knipe Point through the mist and rain across the bay; lets hope the cliff is feeling stable today ...