PLAY SCULPTURE COMMISSION
FOR THE BREWERY GREEN: PHASE 1
ARTISTS’ BRIEF
FEBRUARY 2015
The Tetley
Hunslet Road, Leeds, LS10 1JQ, UK
www.thetetley.org
Registered Charity No: 1148716
Company No: 7123227
The Tetley is funded by Arts Council England and Leeds City Council
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INTRODUCTION
The Tetley centre for contemporary art and learning wishes to commission a
large-scale artist-designed play ‘sculpture’ or group of ‘sculptures’ for The Brewery
Green, a new public space directly opposite the gallery. We are extending this
invitation to a group of selected artists and artists’ groups, whose practice we feel
suits the brief, to submit first-stage ideas for the commission.
Having focused on themes of work and labour during The Tetley’s first year of
programming (in response to the site’s former use), during our second year we
are turning our attention to themes of play and recreation, which underpin many
of our projects for 2015-16.
The ideas and/or prototypes submitted by invited artists at this exploratory stage
will form the basis of an exhibition at The Tetley from Friday 17 July to Sunday 27
September 2015. This exhibition marks the beginning and first public-facing phase
of a longer process which we hope will raise awareness, create dialogue, and
enable consultation with stakeholders including The Tetley’s visitors and local
communities, and provide a platform for advocacy and fundraising for phase two.
With the intention of creating an inclusive, discursive platform, a ‘Lab’ space will
accompany the exhibition, where ideas and discussion arising from the project can
be developed further, through collaboration between The Tetley, artists, visitors
and other groups with whom we work. Exhibiting artists are also invited to
contribute to a weekly event series of talks, discussions, workshops and screenings.
This project will feed directly into the final full-scale commission where one or
more of the exhibiting artists will be selected to develop their ideas into a final
design and fabricate the sculpture by Spring 2017. To indicate the ambition and
scale of the project, we are working with an estimated overall project budget in
excess of £50,000.
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BACKGROUND
The commission aims to provide play facilities which are at present notably lacking
from Leeds' current city centre landscape. The project also aims to significantly
enhance the appeal of The Brewery Green and South Bank Leeds to a range of
users, as well as making a major contribution to the development of art in the
public realm in the city.
The Tetley is committed to creating a large-scale feature for The Brewery Green
which has the idea of ‘play’ at its heart and is recognizably a piece of
contemporary art, but which also embraces open-ended definitions of what
sculpture and art in the public realm can be. ‘Sculpture’ has been chosen as the
medium for the commission in response to the strength of current debate
through the presence of The Hepworth Wakefield, Henry Moore Institute and
collections at Leeds Art Gallery, and Yorkshire Sculpture Park in the Yorkshire
region. The ‘Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle’ promotes the work of these
organizations.
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View of The Tetley from Brewery Green’s wild flower meadow, Spring 2014
View of Brewery Green from The Tetley, Winter 2015
The Tetley works with many early-career and more established artists whose
practice is sculptural or includes sculptural installation and we wish to use this
commissioning opportunity to contribute to the regional and national debate
around contemporary practice in the art form.
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Recent projects at The Tetley- Top Left: Nous Vous A Watery Line, (2014), Top Right: James Clarkson
Smooth Flow (2014), Bottom Left: Ben Cain Down Time (2014), Bottom Right: Emma Rushton and Derek
Tyman Fear of The Surplus (2013)
We are also looking to commission work which addresses the ‘playful’ or ‘playable’
cities agenda nationally, and which will form a talking point and must-see feature
for residents across Leeds and visitors from further afield. The commission is a
major step forward in the place-making process for the new South Bank, and will
continue the culture-led regeneration of the former brewery site that was put in
motion by the conversion of the 1931 former Directors’ Offices, which opened as
The Tetley in November 2013.
Artists may wish to address the history of the site when developing their ideas
(the Joshua Tetley & Son brewery was founded here in 1822 and stood until it
was decommissioned in 2011), or the industrial heritage of the wider South Bank
Leeds area, one of the cradles of the industrial revolution, still characterized by
converted mills, factories and warehouses, especially along the nearby waterfront.
There are also significant social agendas which are particularly relevant here,
including local authority ambitions around well-being, inclusion and the ‘age
friendly city’. The Tetley and Brewery Green are located at a key gateway
between the relatively prosperous city centre proper to the north of the River
Aire, and the areas of south Leeds on the other side, including Hunslet, Holbeck
and Beeston, where there are communities suffering high levels of deprivation and
lack of engagement with the opportunities that the city centre offers. Cultural
provision in south Leeds is also exceptionally low. It is therefore essential that
community engagement forms an integral and central part of the project
throughout.
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The Tetley stands directly on a major axial route along Hunslet Road running
south from Leeds Bridge across the former brewery site, past new educational
campuses for Leeds City College, Leeds College of Building, the forthcoming Ruth
Gorse Academy (which will be the country’s largest free school when it opens in
2016) and on into Hunslet proper. This route has been identified by Leeds
Sustainable Development Group [LSDG] as the ‘Hunslet Stray’. LSDG promotes
sustainable living across the South Bank area and has an ambition to create a new
pedestrian and cycle-friendly route along the Stray that can help to reconnect
south Leeds communities with the city centre by providing a safe and inviting
thoroughfare through an area currently characterized by excessive road
infrastructure, large open stretches of post-industrial brownfield, and a dearth of
people-friendly features such as lighting and wayfinding.
The Brewery Green was created by Carlsberg UK, owners of the entire former
Tetley brewery site. This green space has a temporary (five-year) planning
permission, however it has been created to form an early indication of what will in
time be a major new urban park for Leeds. Thinking on this is part of the current
master-planning process for South Bank Leeds, being led by Leeds City Council in
consultation with Jan Gehl Architects and Arup. The conversation about the South
Bank is picking up pace and is expected to progress rapidly through 2015.
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THE COMMISSION: PHASE 1
We are inviting artists and artists’ groups to submit first-stage ideas for what the
play sculpture could be. At this stage, we are looking for visionary concepts and
‘blue sky thinking’ that can excite and engage a range of stakeholders whose buy-in
will be essential to achieving our outcome of a major new piece of art in the
public realm. Submissions must however have the capacity to become or be
adapted to ‘real world’ scenarios should they be selected to progress to the next
stage.
Although our intention is to site the play facility on The Brewery Green in the first
instance, we are looking for ideas which would have the capacity to be mobile
should the need arise to re-site the work following the end of the current planning
permission term, or in response to future development of the aforementioned city
park. Therefore, please do not propose any alterations to The Brewery Green as
it stands, or any major earthworks or landscaping. Ideas for the commission must
take the form of ‘add-ons’ to the existing landscape, notwithstanding appropriate
fixtures and fittings, which may of course require securing into the concrete
beneath The Brewery Green. Please consult the attached supporting material and
site drawings for full details.
Ideas may be submitted in a range of formats: original artwork, maquettes, digital
representations and any other format which is capable of being exhibited at The
Tetley during summer 2015.
BUDGET
Artist fee - The Tetley is offering artists’ / artists’ groups a
fee of £200 to cover development of an idea and include any
research and site visits to The Tetley. We are interested in
£200
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strong, exciting ideas and ‘what if’ approaches at this stage,
we do not consider it essential for artists to visit the site to be
able to put forward a first-stage idea.
Production Budget - a maximum of £200 per artist or
artists’ group is available to bring to bear on presenting the
ideas in an ‘exhibition-ready’ format. The Tetley’s curatorial
team will provide technical support for the installation of the
exhibition. Public presentation of the idea/s should take
priority in developing a submission, and artists are invited to
think creatively about how this can be done in the gallery
setting.
Travel and Accommodation – a maximum of £100 per
artist / artists’ group is available to cover travel and
accommodation costs for artists located outside of Leeds to
be used to any point in the project.
Public event delivery fee - a half-day / full-day fee is
available for those artists who contribute to the events
programme running alongside the exhibition of talks,
discussions and workshops.
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Up to £200
Up to £100
(where
applicable)
£100 - £200
(where
applicable)
SUBMISSIONS AND TIMESCALE
We would like artists to confirm their participation by Monday 9th March 2015.
Artists’ ideas should be submitted to The Tetley by Friday 1st May 2015. We
will then discuss with you how these are presented in the exhibition (and where
additional resources are appropriate or required). Please send a statement to
accompany your idea, which should be no more than two sides of A4, and include
links to any previous projects or other relevant material you’d like to draw our
attention to.
Following the exhibition, a small number of ideas will be selected by The Tetley
and key stakeholders for further development. The Tetley will work in partnership
with the selected artists on this, and further funding will be made available, subject
to successful applications. At this stage a preferred design will be identified, which
will progress to a detailed design stage. We aim to secure funding and planning
permission to realize the project in the public realm by Autumn 2016.
Please confirm your participation by email to: zoe.sawyer@thetetley.org and send
your ideas via email or by post to: Zoë Sawyer (Curator), The Tetley, Hunslet
Road, Leeds, LS10 1JQ
Please advise us if you would like to submit large digital files, via a Dropbox or
wetransfer. If you have any queries about making a submission, please contact Zoë
to discuss this. Material presented in the exhibition will be retained by The Tetley
as part of our Permanent Collection as an aid to future development of the
project, although copyright will remain with the artist/s and we will consult with
you about its use.
The Tetley operates an equal opportunities policy and welcome proposals from all
sections of the community. We aim to offer a fully accessible commissioning
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scheme. If you have any individual needs related to sight, hearing, language or
mobility which you wish to discuss in relation to your proposal, please contact us
prior to making an application.
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RESOURCES
About The Tetley
The Tetley is a new centre for contemporary art and learning that opened in
November 2013. Created in the iconic headquarters of the former Tetley’s
Brewery in South Central Leeds we show and champion work by emerging and
mid-career artists that is critically engaged and ambitious. Whilst we support artists
who are pushing the boundaries of contemporary art practice, we are committed
to making their work accessible and enjoyable to visitors of all ages and
backgrounds through our participation and events programmes.
For more information, please visit our website www.thetetley.org.
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CONTACT
If you have queries regarding this invitation, please contact:
Zoë Sawyer, Curator
zoe.sawyer@thetetley.org
0113 3202323