greg streak

Furthermore (a proposal)

Project: Furthermore - book proposal
Curators: Neville Gabie / Leo Fitzmaurice
Work: Centre of the Universe

All artists that participated in the Further up in the Air project were invited to submit proposals for a book. The proposals were to be linked in any way to the original impulse of the residency which was looking at the phenomenon of Apartment blocks disappearing from the Liverpool skyline as a result of the massively reduced population (of the one million residents during the 1970’s industrial / shipping boom - there are now only 400 000 remaining).

Centre of the Universe - the proposal

The residents in and around Sheil Park have, in the past few years, experienced a dramatic shift in the metropolitan skyline. Tower blocks, like that of Linosa Close, have been imploded as the resident to apartment ration has declined to the point where maintenance is no longer financially viable. As a result of the decline in population in Liverpool over the last 25 years or so, it has become a regular phenomenon to see Tower Blocks evanesce from the urban topography and replaced with a matrix of single floor housing projects. This proposal for an intervention within the previous Linosa Close location, looks at this transformation in an indirect way. Exact dimensions of this intervention have not been calculated; if successful, the overall concept will be re-interrogated with the former residents of Linosa Close, the organisers of Further Up in the Air and in consultation with architects and town planners.

Description :

The proposal consists initially of a basic architectural structure – more or less square in proportion with a pitched roof. This structure will have four entrance points. Each of these points of entry will consist of a rectangular covered passage (similar to that of a cloister) that leads to an entrance. These passages with receiving entrance doors will be located centrally to each of the four outer walls. The passageways will be of a standard size to accommodate people walking through [approx. 2.1metres (6’6”)]. The core physical function of this space is to provide a communal space for ex-residents to meet, socialise, read and access computer facilities. It will also serve as a documentation / archive centre for the imploded tower block, Linosa Close. It will have photographic information of Linosa Close, images of its implosion as well as the strategic statistics highlighting not only the reasons for its demise, but collated data from the implosion itself. From how long it took to demolish the internal structure in preparation for implosion, to the types of things found during this process, the amount of explosion required, the calculations of dispersement on implosion, safety requirements etc. Naturally, documentation of the various artistic interventions that took place during the Further Up in the Air art residencies will also be available in book and other forms.

The critical fulcrum within this structure is the floor itself. This will consist of a series of sheets of tempered glass with a view down into a space below the floor. This consists of a space that is equal to the dimensions of the square floor plan of the internal space above, with a depth of no more than one metre (3’). This lower space is sealed off (apart from a strategically placed trap door) and is more a space that is contemplated from above than accessed into below. This space beneath the glass floor will be layered with a network of constructed houses interlinked to form a grid matrix – like a city of single floor houses not dissimilar to that which has replaced the Linosa Close tower block. Each of these units is a micro equivalent of the construction of the large architectural space above, in which the viewer is standing. A perimeter strip of fluorescent lighting will ensure that the floor below is strategically lit and in so doing also provide some additional light to the space above. The glass floor serves as a layer between two interstitial spaces – between the physical and the spiritual, past and present, memory and reality. Standing in the main space, one is enveloped by a repository of memory; the spiritual void of the imploded tower block. The suspended glass floor provides the viewer with the sensation of floating which heightens the idea of a spiritual realm. In this space one can look down on the equivalent of the reality that has replaced it.