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Imagined community: Regular Marvels, Part 3, ‘The Light Ships’
The Light Ships is about community, the feelings and commitments we freely offer each other, unconnected with kin- or friendship, though it often embraces both. I’ve been thinking about community throughout my working life and I’m still discovering its meanings, power and value. I’ve seen it everywhere—in the suburbs of Sofia, in post-industrial Gateshead, in rural…
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The joy of creation: Regular Marvels, Part 2: ‘Where We Dream’
‘In a cozy corner of the electric flame department of the infernal regions there stands a little silver gridiron. It is the private property of his Satanic majesty, and is reserved exclusively for the man who invented amateur theatricals..’ P. G. Wodehouse, The Gem Collector, Ainslee’s Magazine, New York 1909 The professional art world’s disdain…
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The love in co-creation
Yesterday, I had a little exchange with a friend about how to support community artists. She wasn’t talking about money or management, important as those things are, but about nourishing the inner sources of people’s creativity, energy and humanity. We’re a similar age and she has spent her life co-creating art, especially with disabled people.…
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Doubts and questions
Since my first encounter with community art I’ve known what I wanted to do with my life and why. How has been more problematic. The world has changed so much since then, and me with it. Ideas and ways of working that made sense under Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair are now outdated like shoulder…
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Searching for a direction: Regular Marvels, Part 1, ‘Winter Fires’
What became Regular Marvels emerged in the dying years of New Labour (2008-10). It was a period of crisis—the collapse of neoliberal finance brought recession, austerity and the rise of reactionary politics we’re still dealing with. History is experienced by individuals and for me these global events echoed in my own crisis. Its obvious manifestation,…
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A lottery for artists’ funding
On the long train journey to Barcelona, I read Avram Alpert’s new book, The Good Enough Life. I’m not finished yet—I’m a slow reader, especially when I’m thinking and making notes—but I know it’s one of those books that permanently changes my ideas. I think we can only understand or learn things when we’re ready…
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François Matarasso 