Getting
started

Let's get started. Select an area where you think art could happen and team up with a few friends or colleagues. Spend about half an hour walking around, talking with each other about how you feel about the place and whether public art could make a difference. Be imaginative!

Hints

As you walk around the area you have chosen

• think about all the senses
• think about emotion and memory
• think about time and space.

How long should the art last?

• For ever?
• For a generation?
• For a year?
• For a moment?
• Every year, every day, every hour or minute?
• A season?

Where should the art happen?

• In a specific location?
• In multiple locations?
• Relating to something that's already there?
• Somewhere significant?
• Somewhere insignificant?

As you walk around the area where you think art could happen, discuss your ideas. You might find this checklist useful.

Checklist

Remember, Artcheck starts with three simple questions:

• What do you like about this place?
• What do you dislike about it?
• How could art play a part here?

You can ask these questions as you and your group look around your neighbourhood. Take a camera and a notebook to record what you think.

From these three questions come some more specific things to think about. You might want to take this checklist with you on your walk.

People

Who else would be affected and who might we need to collaborate with? Think about:

• who lives here
• who works here
• who makes things happen here
• what education, advice and skills networks there are
• what professionals we would need to work with later
• who else has a stake in the area.

Purpose

What do we hope to achieve? You might want to:

• entertain
• make something inspiring
• make the place look better
• bring life to the place
• kick-start community activity
• create a sense of civic pride.

Site

Art can happen in any public space – think about parks, streets, rivers, buildings, the sky. What about:

• horizontal surfaces
• vertical surfaces
• above, below, beside, in front, on top
• instead of something, or as well as something, or changing something
• temporary sites
• permanent sites
• living sites
• moving sites, like water
• disposable sites, like everyday objects.

Context

What's distinctive about your area? Can this trigger ideas for public art? Think about:

• landscape
• environment
• local architecture
• local materials
• history
• culture
• food
• religion
• sport
• science.

Think about art that blends in, and think about art that shouts out and asks questions!

The Big Art Project will select six sites from nominated sites around the country. If you're not selected, you may have a great idea you want to take forward anyway. If you want to start moving forward, we've provided additional material to help you think about the kind of art you're interested in and kick-start action in your community.

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