The Park Bench Reader
Bram Thomas Arnold
Plymouth Art Weekender, 2017
Plymouth Art Weekender is the largest art event of its kind in the UK, showcasing a wide and diverse range of activity for all ages including a large array of events and exhibitions throughout the city by local, national and international artists. Field Notes took on the role of Festival Co-ordinators for the third Weekender, overseeing 123 projects, events and exhibitions and bringing the work of 249 artists to an audience of over 20,000. We managed the development and delivery of two new artist commissions, The Weekender outreach programme for local schools and communities and a short film commision, as well as multiple partnerships with Plymouth City Council, Plymouth University, RIO, Plymouth College of Art, KARST and the city’s community of independent artists.
The Park Bench Reader, Bram Thomas Arnold, 2018
Park bench, book of classic english literature, performer to read
Bram was one of the artists commissioned for Plymouth Art Weekender 2017, as part of the Made in Plymouth takeover. On the 5th September, before The Weekender began, Bram presented Keep the Aspidistras Flying, a free performance lecture (with a bench) at The Plymouth Athenaeum where he introduced the work and shared ways of getting involved.
The Park Bench Reader combines the process of bibliotherapy with an awareness that both the novel and the park bench emerged during the same period of British history. Park benches, introduced by the Victorians as part of the construction of ‘public space’ in the newly burgeoning cities of the industrial revolution, emerged at the same time as the concept of the English Novel in Literature.
For Bram’s commission the public benches of Armada Way in Plymouth played host to a series of ephemeral performances. The premise was simple: a reader sits on a given park bench and reads aloud from a novel, over a given period of time. The work was about reclaiming the streets, just really quietly, reading novels as a form of protest against speed, acceleration, anxiety and isolation. Bram invited local people to work with him; to choose a book and become a reader for an hour, with performances advertised in advance through a poster campaign. On the Saturday of The Weekender performances also took place in Plymouth Central Library and Plymouth Athenaeum. It was a performance that had to be stumbled across or searched for, a performance where the park bench is seen as stage, arena, site of public interaction.
During the development of the piece Bram worked with a number of organisations and community groups: Plymouth Athenaeum, Plymouth Libraries, Plympton Library, The Reader, Literature Works and Horizon. He became a member of the Plymouth Athenaeum and, through his relationship with them, used their theatre as a venue for presentation, logistical support and promotion of the events. He also participated in a number of bibliotherapy reading groups hosted at Plymouth Central Library.
Park bench, book of classic english literature, performer to read
Bram was one of the artists commissioned for Plymouth Art Weekender 2017, as part of the Made in Plymouth takeover. On the 5th September, before The Weekender began, Bram presented Keep the Aspidistras Flying, a free performance lecture (with a bench) at The Plymouth Athenaeum where he introduced the work and shared ways of getting involved.
The Park Bench Reader combines the process of bibliotherapy with an awareness that both the novel and the park bench emerged during the same period of British history. Park benches, introduced by the Victorians as part of the construction of ‘public space’ in the newly burgeoning cities of the industrial revolution, emerged at the same time as the concept of the English Novel in Literature.
For Bram’s commission the public benches of Armada Way in Plymouth played host to a series of ephemeral performances. The premise was simple: a reader sits on a given park bench and reads aloud from a novel, over a given period of time. The work was about reclaiming the streets, just really quietly, reading novels as a form of protest against speed, acceleration, anxiety and isolation. Bram invited local people to work with him; to choose a book and become a reader for an hour, with performances advertised in advance through a poster campaign. On the Saturday of The Weekender performances also took place in Plymouth Central Library and Plymouth Athenaeum. It was a performance that had to be stumbled across or searched for, a performance where the park bench is seen as stage, arena, site of public interaction.
During the development of the piece Bram worked with a number of organisations and community groups: Plymouth Athenaeum, Plymouth Libraries, Plympton Library, The Reader, Literature Works and Horizon. He became a member of the Plymouth Athenaeum and, through his relationship with them, used their theatre as a venue for presentation, logistical support and promotion of the events. He also participated in a number of bibliotherapy reading groups hosted at Plymouth Central Library.
FUNDERS AND PARTNERS
Plymouth Art Weekender was coordinated by Visual Arts Plymouth and funded through the city wide Horizon project, a collaborative programme developed between Visual Arts Plymouth, KARST, Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth City Council and University of Plymouth. The two-year programme of visual contemporary arts was funded through Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence fund and supported by Plymouth Culture.
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info@fieldnotes.org.ukThe development of this website was supported by Cultivator Cornwall
