3:34pm Thursday 7th April 2005
WHEN the Octagaon Centre was built in the 1960s, Cathy Rogers and her brother John wondered whether anyone stopped to think about the sociological impact of these developments.
“I remember the newspaper headlines saying “plans going ahead”, but did it do anything for the town?
Now, nearly 40 years on, Cathy and John are looking at the buildings in High Wycombe to see how people of the town are affected by the changes in a contemporary art project named Remapping High Wycombe.
Remapping High Wycombe has been so well received it has just won an Art Plus Award.
Last week, Cathy and John were awarded £5,000 from Arts Council England and the South East and the South East England Regional Development Agency (SEEDA) for their contribution to art in public places.
Their award was one of seven Art Plus awards given to artists and organisations who are creating projects for their local community.
“Remapping High Wycombe is helping to raise people’s awareness of the town by helping them to rediscover its history and encouraging them to explore the ways in which its modern developments have affected its character.” Cathy, 37, who graduated from Chelsea College of Art, now lives in Dartford, Kent, but spent 28 years of her life in High Wycombe.
“I became very interested in what was then known as Wycombe’s Pheonix redevelopment project, and began to look at what a place means to people,” recalls Cathy.
“It’s history, social connections, and what happens when that place changes.
“Do people feel uneasy and uncomfortable, and if so, how does our built environment affect us?” Last summer, Cathy and John began what they describe as their crypto-topographic remapping of High Wycombe by initiating a series of walks or dérives, within the boundary of the redevelopment area.
“Crypto topography more accurately describes what some people call psychogeography or ‘neo-psychogeography’. It’s a study of our environment in all its forms physical and ambient.” Dérives are a practice pioneered by the Situationists, an international artist group founded in the 1950s.
“We did some research and discovered that the Situationists were very engaged into looking at a place in a way that was different to the way that planners look at a place.” “The Situationists were more interested in the feeling of a place.” Like these artists, Cathy and John encouraged Wycombe residents to get in touch with their feelings, to think about how their own experiences of living in the town connect to the town centre.
As well as investigating its centre, they also revisited some of Wycombe’s most historic sites, including The Hill at West Wycombe, the Hellfire Caves, the earthwork of Desborough Castle, Wycombe Abbey and The Rye.
“There are several ways in which to do it. For example, you can use an algorithmic derive in which you are given a set of instructions, such as ‘take a left and then a right’. We want to find out how people react to their environment.” “Lots of people in the art world use dérives because they are a fantastic tool in which to wander about a city or a town with no particular place to go.” The pair have run a film night of their work and, with the help of the money they have been awarded, are planning to develop an exhibition in the summer, Significant Sites.
The Art Plus Final Award scheme will also help the pair to incorporate their programme of dérives with Wycombe District Council’s Simply Walk campaign and put on a Summer Solstice Dérive.
But perhaps Cathy and John’s biggest aim is to work with the developers and architects of the town centre redevelopment, helping them to create an enjoyable environment for Wycombe residents and visitors to the town.
And so far, some promising events have occurred.
“I have spoken to the developer and he is very interested in what we have done. They are really willing to help us. ” Visit: remappinghighwycombe.blogspot.com
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