Text and images from a previous project culminating in a group fashion show. Starting point for the project was Utopia/Dystopia.
After completing some general library research, brutalism kept reoccurring as ‘utopian architecture’. I found a Guardian article, Utopia now: the heritage of London’s brutalist architecture. A quote from the article read ‘brutalism … was once the architecture of utopian visions and ambitions of making people’s lives better through architecture.’ This led me to explore further into brutalist social housing estates, as architects had these utopian visions in mind of a better life for residents and social ideals. Robin Hood Gardens also seemed to be a recurring theme throughout this research – ‘a major Twentieth Century Society case’.
Concrete Concept by Christopher Beanland was a great book for inspiration for these ideas of utopian brutalism. He introduced a really interesting link between brutalism and romance. ‘Normal life, with its happy and sad bits, played out in weird surroundings … college crushes, office crushes, any crushes were discussed over tepid beers in brutalist piazzas, brutalist boozers.’ I love this link between the architecture itself and lived experiences within. Beanland also discusses the I Love U Will U Marry Me bridge on Sheffield’s Park Hill estate, which I will discuss further. Finally, the text explores this decline from utopia to dystopia within the functionality of these estates, stating ‘Brutalism was the visual language of a post-war welfare state on which the sun is setting.’ Thatcher’s 1980 Right to buy scheme epitomises this decline in social housing.
I then went on to research artists who have touched on these issues and made work relating to these estates and their decline. Roger Hiorns’ Seizure, 2009-10 sees the artist ‘encourage a growth of an unexpected crystal form within a low-rise late-modernist development’. Eventually the demolition of this estate had to be postponed due to the popularity of the work. Hiorns also discusses Robin Hood Gardens, stating ‘there was an idea of a collective, the dream of growing together for the better good’ and that the buildings ‘carry the stain of life, to take in everything they were experiencing.’ This reinforced my interest to study further into this estate for my project work.
I visited Robin Hood Gardens to gain some primary research photography and to explore the estate for myself. I was quite surprised to see the buildings were being demolished there and then, with half of the estate boarded off completely. Regeneration! 2015 by Jessie Brennan is a collection of writings, drawings and photographs from a project she completed about Robin Hood Gardens as ‘one of Britain’s most utopian ideals: public housing.’ She creates beautifully delicate rubbings of resident’s front door mats whilst approaching them for interview about the estate; Conversation Pieces 2014. These door mats also represent the design of the ‘streets in the sky’, including a small deck area outside each flat to encourage socialising outside of the house. Brennan discusses how demolition of council estates is executed with ‘such glee’, ‘to erase council estates so publicly functions as a sign of social and political progress.’ Colin Wiles (Guardian) visits Robin Hood with Brennan and compares how thriving the Barbican is compared to the fate of this estate; ‘investment would never match that of the wealthier residents at the Barbican.’
Park Hill Estate in Sheffield also fits this model of utopian architecture to rapid social decline. ‘it became equated with ugliness, social decay, drug use and family breakdown.’ The tragic story of Sheffield’s Park Hill bridge 2016 is a story which has stuck with me ever since reading. It tells the tale of the ‘Clare Middleton I Love U Will U Marry Me’ bridge which towers over the city. Graffiti painted in a ‘two-fingers up at the social services,’ looks ‘like love yelling at the top of its voice in an estate thought to be desolate.’ These links again between brutalist estates, romance and real people are very prominent here. However there is a bitter twist to the romantic gestural graffiti. Clare died aged 30, and her family see the bridge as ‘a ghost that will live on the skyline of Sheffield forever.’ The graffiti has since been turned into an Emin inspired neon sign. This is very conflicting and I agree with this article stating ‘I Love U hsd been drained of meaning, transformed into a hipster brand adversiting gentrification.’ Lastly, the graffiti artist himself got in touch with the redevelopers ‘You’re making all this money out of my graffiti and I’m homeless.’ There was no reply and rejected him a flat.
To create work from this wide research base, I collected relevant images and used my own photographs of Robin Hood to create collages using a colour palette of grey tones to reinforce the brutalist, concrete element of the work. I then explored used print techniques to translate these collages into print, including screen print using stencils, hand painting and flocking to create block areas with texture. I then used machine embroidery to convey a hand drawn effect over the top of my print work. When visiting Robin Hood Gardens, I picked up a duvet cover from a charity shop in nearby Crisp Street Market. All of my samples are printed on fabric from this duvet cover, which I think is a nice link between brutalism, romance and the lived experiences within these estates. The waffle texture of the fabric also gives a concrete feel to the grey tones which I really like.
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