20) Exhibition Space Ideas - 16/3/18

Today I went up to Greenbank View to inquire about the chapel within Greenbank Cemetery, to see whether it could be used as an exhibition space. It would be the perfect location because it's right next to where all the van dwellers are based, so they could easily visit it. As well as this, many people visit the cemetery to see passed away loved ones, go on walks or just use it as a cut through, meaning there's already a wide audience of people around the area to visit the exhibition.

I found out from the van dwellers that the council deals with the upkeep of the cemetery, so I went to where they're based in the grounds to inquire about using the building. I met a really nice man called Julz who listened to the idea and was really interested, so he went up to show me the space. Here are some images below which I took in the building:

I think this would be a great space to exhibit my work, as well as the rest of my group (Samuel Mitchell, Lucy Mather, Albert Rendle, Graci Henshaw, Christina Kim and Jack Theobald). The space is quite large and circular, so I think the work could be framed in this context well. It's also quite well lit, and there's screws in the walls which we could attach string or wire to hang our images from. We have also booked a couple of plinths and a board for people to exhibit their work too, because we are going to be exhibiting books and prints.

Julz explained to me that the chapel is currently derelict and the council have been removing any dangerous parts of the building as well as cleaning up any rubbish or mess inside. We then went over the logistics of using the building, and he stated that:

- we need to take out liability insurance from the university so we are covered for any health and safety issues while the exhibition is taking place.

- we can only have the exhibition during the week, because the liability insurance only covers us in the week, we would have to take out our own insurance to exhibit over the weekend too

- if we want to put up posters for the event within the grounds, they need to be laminated to survive all weather conditions.

All in all he was really excited about the prospect of having an exhibition in the chapel, and his words were 'I want to make it happen', so he said he was going to speak to his colleagues and get back to me.

Overall I was really pleased with how the meeting went, and I'm really glad Julz is interested in helping sort the exhibition. So for my next steps I need to obtain liability insurance from the university and stay in contact with Julz to make sure everything is running smoothly.

#creativeinteractions #exhibition #research