The Commission: Output Task Research

Britain From The Air, Chatham

Organised by wecommunic8, a specialist in exterior exhibitions such as this one, Britain From The Air is one of the most successful exhibitions Ive seen in terms of audience reach and reception. In the hour or so I spent wandering the high-street admiring the exhibition I was all to aware of the amount of other passers-by that stopped to admire the images and read some of the informative captions accompanying them. The variety of people stopping was incredible, ranging largely in age, nationality and socioeconomic background. The images were printed on what appeared to be a kind of sheet metal, making them extremely resilient to the adverse weather and slightly more adverse patrons of Chatham. Printing was to a good standard (not excellent, some acutance issues and loss of detail when viewed up close) but absolutely fine for the intentions of the exhibition.

New Arts Centre (NAC, Nucleus), Chatham

Situated just off of Chatham highstreet, the NAC is an exhibition space intended to make exhibitions for local (or not, as the case may be) artists more accessible, opening up the possibility to form an exhibition for many independent artists. The location is not ideal to attract walk-ins, due to its seclusion off of the highstreet, and placement at a far end of the street. The average public that occupy this end of the highstreet would be highly unlikely to share an interest in art or exhibitions, so venturing out of their way would be highly unlikely. Personally, I do not like the location of this gallery, nor do I like the interior space. The ceilings are 67 at the highest point, with beams running throughout that have just 63 clearance beneath them. This would prove problematic not only with the heads of our potential taller audience (and artists), but also with causing larger prints to appear top-heavy or cramped. Wall space is excellent, with a main floor space of 34x20ft and a 6x8ft alcove, lateral space wouldnt prove problematic, but I would feel reluctant to host an exhibit here with the problems of location and ceiling height.

The Hundred of Hoo

Upon a final student body exhibition in my last year at my secondary school, The Hundred of Hoo, I was offered use of their new, state of the art Performing Arts Space. The space is fantastically equipped with air-conditioning, fully controllable blackout curtains and plenty of windows for natural lighting, roof assemblies for more controllable lighting and a surround sound system. The space is approximately 40x40ft with ceilings around 30ft. Storage cupboards are on hand, as are conference rooms and technical help staff. This space would require very advances pre-booking, to allow for their classes to be scheduled around our exhibiting time, but would be available for free. The space is located in a school in a village so there would be no chance of passersby wandering in, but with the main car park situated directly outside the venue, access and invitational evenings would be very easy to organize and execute. Catering facilities are located next to the space also, and usage could be requested though I cannot guarantee if this would be permitted. The only stipulation the school specified is that they would like to invite some local press and other officials to help promote them as a school (me being a past pupil), but this would only further promote our work and widen our audience.

Wecommunic8
Wecommunic8 have been producing awe inspiring and moving street gallery exhibitions since 2002, in cities all over the UK, as well as Copenhagen, Dublin, Brussels and the Cayman Islands. The exhibitions are floodlit at night and fully weather resistant, allowing access 24hours a day, 7 days a week. They are typically situated in high footfall areas, allowing maximum delivery of messages and work to as wide an audience as possible. Their work is hugely concentrated on photography, with exhibitions like Earth From The Air and Britain From The Air acting as pinnacles in their portfolio. Ive contacted Wecommunic8, enquiring about ideas of prices etc, so should have a better idea of rough outlay for such an exhibition.