Richard Layzell, 'IS'. Image courtesy of the artist and Bristol City Council. Photo: Rob Irving
Synopsis
IS was a Bristol City Council Neighbourhood Arts commission as part of Bristol’s Year of Creativity 2005, funded by the Urban Cultural Programme. This city-wide, large-scale participatory arts project took place in eight neighbourhoods with Richard devising and leading a series of interventions, installations and events with communities
Description
IS culminated in a series of high profile city centre events including film screenings at Arnolfini and Watershed and an exhibition at Centrespace. The project profiled the cultural identity and diversity of the city’s communities.
IS employed arts practice as a dialogic tool between individuals and communities. It tested the possibility for a new vocabulary of community-based arts in which the social aims of neighbourhood renewal – tackling social exclusion, increasing achievement in education, reducing inequalities in health, promoting access – were bound by the unique urban landscapes of the city itself.
Richard Layzell
Richard Layzell is a London-based artist who works in installation, video and performance internationally. He pioneered a series of innovative artist residencies in industry, defining the role of the ‘visionaire,’ and was recently based in Shanghai for the Visiting Arts ‘Square Mile’ project.
His interactive installation Tap Ruffle and Shave, commissioned by Glasgow Museums, toured the UK and was seen by 100,000 people. He has also been commissioned by a number of other major UK institutions including Tate Britain, the Serpentine and Whitechapel Galleries, London and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham.
His ongoing collaboration with Tania Koswycz has led to The Manifestation, a major work for galleries that explores dialogue as artform. He is the author of Enhanced Performance and Cream Pages, is an Honorary Associate of the National Review of Live Art and is an artist/researcher with ResCen at Middlesex University. He is currently the lead artist for the innovative ‘Aspire’ project based in King’s Lynn, Norfolk.
