Artists and designers are now taking a greater role in the transformation and improvement of our public spaces and exploring new approaches to creating unique and specific work for them. Graphic designer Peter Saville and artists Gary Hume and Georgie Hopton were commissioned by Scarlet Projects in partnership with EC1 New Deal for Communities and Islington Greenspace to re-design St Luke's Gardens in EC1 with a series of plant-based installations as part of a project called St Lukes Transformations. All of the artists live and work in the area and consider it to be their local park. Each installation covered the flowerbeds of this well used but rather neglected garden.
The exhibition, Blooming St Luke's, documented the concepts and progress of the project, which aims to redress how public spaces are designed and used. The exhibition included ideas behind both installations with specially commissioned films about the gardens and the surrounding area, including interviews with the artists.
The project hopefully raised issues and debate about the current approaches to the re-design of public space and the possibilities of creating more colourful and engaging transformations.
Sponsored by:
EC1 New Deal for Communities
Curated by:
Scarlet Projects