PRESS RELEASE - MAY 2005

City Projects has commissioned the artist, Nils Norman, to make a new work for Homerton in East London.

Lying at the fringes of a tide of regeneration currently transforming much of London’s East End, Homerton would appear to be next in line for a large injection of private and public investment. Addressing issues such as the use of public space, town planning and the provision of adequate play areas for children, Norman’s project proposes a timely, fantastic and radical regeneration strategy for the area.

Nils Norman proposes a sprawling extension to the Homerton Grove Adventure Playground, encompassing the space surrounding the playground. The proposal takes the form of a drawing depicting an expansive network of play areas, connected by an intricate system of towers and walkways. The drawing has been produced as a large print, which can be seen at the City Projects gallery and as a foldout poster, which is available from local businesses and community organisations. The back of the poster contains a short essay by the artist on the history of adventure playgrounds. Also on show at the gallery is the ‘Multiple Struggle Niche Library,’ an idiosyncratic yet informative collection of books on radical urban design, regeneration and the rise of the so-called ‘creative industries’.

Nils Norman works across the disciplines of public art, architecture and urban planning. His projects challenge notions of the function of public art and the efficacy of much urban planning and large-scale regeneration. His work is informed by local politics and ideas on alternative economic and ecological systems, merging utopian alternatives with current urban design to create a humorous critique of the discrete histories and functions of public art and urban planning. He exhibits and generates projects and collaborations in museums and galleries internationally. In recent years he has participated in the Venice Biennale, the Havanna Biennale, and has completed an artist residency at the Camden Arts Centre in London. He is the author of three publications: Thurrock 2015, a comic commissioned by the General Public Agency, London, UK, 2004; An Architecture of Play: A Survey of London’s Adventure Playgrounds, Four Corners, London, UK, 2004; and The Contemporary Picturesque, Book Works, London, UK, 2000.

Funded by Arts Council England and PROJECT: engaging artists in the built environment

For further information and images please call Dan Kidner at City Projects on 020 8985 2236 or email info@cityprojects.org