The Lively-hood residency took place in the landmark 19th century glass and wrought iron building in the heart of Cardiff, culminating in the Lively-hood exhibition (December 2011) in The Old Library, situated in the same street as the Market Hall.

With the agreement of Cardiff Council, the joint financial support of Arts Council Wales and the University of South Wales (University of Glamorgan) I took up residence in amongst the stallholders in January 2011.

The aim of the residency was to explore strategies for tapping into the creative imagination of the of the business folk, as a starting point for engaging them in a collaborative process of art-making. Whatever form that might take, my start point was to look for ways in which to visualise the how the community felt about working independently but in close proximity to one another in a beautiful building past its commercial heyday.

Folk Glance https://vimeo.com/40577898

Folk Glance utilises the filmmaking convention of the eye-line match to create an illusion that stallholders could make direct eye contact with one another and playfully suggest communal harmony, when not all saw eye to
eye. The music score for the video was written and performed by one of the stallholders, the owner of PD Aquatics, his first music composition commission.

A number of short videos were produced, including portraits of some of the stallholders, and a series of videos that documented the aesthetic features of the functioning work space.

Veil Trance https://vimeo.com/40610839

Veil Trance documents routine movement of the stallholders in and out of the waste room through a plastic panelled curtain. Editing is used to sculpt the shapes created by plastic curtain. The audio element records the sound of space including speech, the voice of a defiant female porter is heard recounting her fight with the management over her refusal to clean the men’s toilets.

The Blue Line https://vimeo.com/40610839 documents the effectiveness of a simple managerial strategy to keep stallholders in line.documents the effectiveness of a simple managerial strategy to keep stallholders in line. One of the recurring tensions amongst the stallholders and management was a tendency for some stall holders selling perishable good to take liberties with placing their goods beyond the boundary of their stall, encroaching on neighbouring stalls and dangerously blocking the thoroughfare. A blue line painted in front of every stall marked the boundary that stallholders must not place goods displays beyond.

Not On Display –Karen and Brian https://vimeo.com/55452590

Offers glimpses into what happens in the lives of two stallholders when not serving customers. I accompany Karen the owner of a bag stall on a road trip to the Wholesalers in Manchester, and sit pond-side with Brian the butcher who takes time out from behind the counter to reflect on his lot whilst fishing for fun.