Mapping Medieval Chester

At the workshops before Christmas we had another opportunity to discuss the research and ideas behind the St John’s art project with local people, and hear their views and suggestions. It was tremendous to hear such positive responses and I felt really privileged and proud to be part of such an exciting project. A few photos attached – though the ones on site don’t show the projections and were taken in very dark conditions! Thank you to our hosts at St John’s for making us so welcome.

Presentation in St John's Church

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We’ve now finalised arrangements for another series of community workshops in Chester in December, including more text development workshops, a public presentation at St John’s Church, and an on-site workshop in which you can talk directly to the artist, Nayan Kulkarni, see the projection technology and even get involved in the production of some slides.

You can read more details of the events (and information about booking, where appropriate) here. There will be further activities in January, including a Photography Competition for local photographers to have a go at capturing the light installation – watch this space!

'Hryre' photo by David Heke

On Tuesday 15 November, Year 6 pupils at Newton Primary School worked with artist Nayan Kulkarni to produce illumination designs which were projected over the school building. This workshop and new art were inspired by ‘Hryre’ at St John’s Church, Chester, which projects fragments of text edited by the ‘Mapping Medieval Chester’ project across the ruins. The Newton Primary School artwork also explores the idea of writing with light. Pictures by Andy Scargill.

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For one night only! On Tuesday 15th November Newton Primary School will be illuminated by Year 6 artwork, produced under the direction of multimedia artist Nayan Kulkarni. This new art takes as its inspiration ‘Hryre’, the lighting installation at St John’s Church, Chester, which projects fragments of medieval text across the ruins.

You can read a press release about the event here and you can see a flyer advertising the event here.

The first phase of our art installation at St John’s Church, Chester, is now complete. The first set of projections, produced by artist Nayan Kulkarni and his team, are now in place, illuminating the medieval ruins at St John’s with fragments of medieval texts which describe the city of Chester.

You can read about the projections and the content of the projected fragments in the interpretation leaflet here. (It’s also handy to print and take along with you if you’re going to the site.)

For the next four months Nayan and Catherine will be developing the permanent content of the artwork, in consultation with the community. The current projections are a means of testing the illuminations and providing a real experience that will form the basis for a number of workshops to be held in Chester. We’re also keen to hear your thoughts and ideas: the leaflet explains how to give us your feedback.

Photographs will be available here very soon.

The first workshop linked to the development of our public art installation was held in the Chester Renaissance offices, Chester Visitor Centre, on Saturday 17 September. 19 local people responded to our invitation and joined Catherine Clarke (who’s leading the ‘Discover Medieval Chester’ project), the artist Nayan Kulkarni and other members of the artwork project team to discuss and develop ideas for the first, temporary lighting projections, to be sited at St John’s from early October 2011 until February 2012. The current phase of the project is funded by Cheshire West and Chester Council.

The public artwork will draw on the texts which we explored in our ‘Mapping Medieval Chester’ research, beaming words and fragments in light across the medieval ruins at St John’s Church, Chester. The workshop was an opportunity for us to identify possible text for the initial projections.

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We’ve recently received the excellent news that the Arts and Humanities Research Council will be funding our new Knowledge Transfer project, ‘Discover Medieval Chester: place, heritage and identity’. This will build on the ‘Mapping Medieval Chester’ research and develop innovative and creative ways of sharing our work with new audiences. Our planned outputs will include a new set of digital resources, including an interactive map with multi-media materials and resources for visitors to the city, a major exhibition in Chester (which will tour to Wrexham) and a permanent public art installation in Chester city centre.

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We’re continuing to work in partnership with the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, to promote the medieval heritage of the city and its surrounding area. There are a few exciting developments in progress at the moment – watch this space for news. In the meantime, here are details of some of the medieval-themed events coming up in Cheshire over the next year. For further details on any of these, please contact the Grosvenor Museum.

Medieval musicians at St John's Church

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I was in Chester on Friday; my first visit since MMC culminated with the festival on the August bank holiday weekend last year. I’ve had little time to work on Lucian recently, so it was exciting to be able to the return to the city he described so lovingly. What struck me, along with a crash of brightly-painted rhinos, was how my memory of the city’s topography and Lucian’s text  had distorted the reality of the city itself. My sense of the relative size of different buildings and areas was all wrong. (more…)

We’ve received some enquiries via our Mailing List about the future of this project and ways in which people can get involved. We’re really grateful for your continued interest and hope to keep in touch via the Blog about news, developments and future activities.

We’re currently working with the Grosvenor Museum Chester, and other partners in Chester itself, to look at ways in which we could share our project research with the local community and visitors to the city. We’re hoping to apply for funding to make this possible and have several meetings coming up to discuss ideas. Watch this space for news as our plans take shape!

On a separate note, we’ve just found out that the ‘Mapping Medieval Chester’ project will be featuring in an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) report for government and other stakeholders entitled ‘Changing the World: the impact of the arts and humanities’. We’re really pleased to be included in a report which shows the value that this kind of research can have both within and beyond academia. Who knows – perhaps Peter Mandelson will soon be reading about Lucian and Henry Bradshaw over his morning cup of coffee…