Adopt ‘silly ideas’ to connect with public, sector urged

Fluorescent lights around building equipment was a light work at Durham Lumiere Festival of Light in 2013. Photo: Roger Hartley

Building sites should be adopting a range of “silly” ideas to help them engage with the public and remove feelings of annoyance towards noisy and obstructive building activities, according to combined arts expert Roger Hartley, who delivered a TEDx talk on the subject in London last month.

Hartley heads up the Bureau Of Silly ideas (BOSi), a Lottery-funded arts company based in Brixton, set up to bring art, entertainment, humour and surprise into everyday places in the built environment.

The firm has previously worked with construction to install various whacky ideas such as radio-controlled wheelie bins that talk to passers by, and light installations on construction equipment, and is now urging builders to connect with local artists in their communities to inject some humour into their activities.

“For an industry that is dedicated towards creating place and community, it’s frustrating that one of the first things construction seems to do is alienate them through noise and disruption or by blocking people out with site hoardings,” said Hartley. “But by subtly twisting something that is normally conceived to be an inconvenience or an ignored part of everyday life on the street, you can in fact create a lot of engagement with people, encouraging them to talk and laugh with each other and projecting a positive message.”

In Brixton, BOSi worked with infrastructure services company FM Conway during repaving works on Brixton High Street. A narrative was created around strange aromas that had been discovered during the work and performance artists pretended to work alongside Conway’s operatives to investigate the smells.

“As part of the project, we illuminated road works and made water features out of them to make them very beautiful,” said Hartley. “Instead of people swearing at these obstructions they were going there specifically to visit them. Ideas like this can help people understand that the construction process is a good and essential part of urban life.”

Site hoardings can create negative associations related to exclusion and health and safety, but Hartley suggests deliberately playing on this idea to create something fun. “What about installing a ‘loose’ piece of hoarding that enables children to crawl through into a protected area of the site with a properly specified barrier. Inside you could tell them stories or plant things for them to discover. I’d also like to see fairies talk to children from inside cement mixers as they pass sites on their way to school each day.”

Hartley claims that too often projects only consider art installations at a later stage, when there is little money left in the pot, but by introducing a programme of artist engagement during the planning process and seeing it through to completion the maximum benefits can be achieved.

“Construction sites and companies need to have a budget in place for engagement. Large construction projects can last for more than a generation so they need to create more empathy with those living nearby, in the same way as the Blitz was famous for creating community spirit because everyone joined together during the rebuild,” he said.

The Burst Pipe Dream project in Jubilee Square, Brighton, where BOSI was asked to revitalise the square when completion of construction work there was delayed by two years. Photo: Roger Hartley.