Junction will run from 27th June until early autumn
Situation Leeds is the public art programme of Leeds Met Gallery & Studio Theatre which is working in partnership with The Culture Company to deliver Junction.
Junction is a series of temporary commissions for Leeds City centre utilising the ubiquitous 'junction box' as its canvas. Everyday we walk by these neglected metal boxes without a second thought, but now Junction offers artists and designers the chance to transform these tired boxes into vibrant, intriguing and humorous interventions in street life.
Junction is a project initiated by Situation Leeds and is the first step in our commitment to raise the public art profile of the City. Over the next few years we hope to widen the Junction project to other sites across the city and identify other exciting opportunities to work creatively with the urban fabric of the city centre. We believe that the 'everyday', could be a lot more intriguing, and we see Junction as a first step to attract interest, support and sponsorship for further creative public realm projects that will make walking round Leeds City Centre more interesting, extraordinary and pleasurable.
Map.
1.Fabric Lenny
Theatre of Hares and Graces
Location: Outside Browns on The Headrow
Based in Holmfirth, Paul Slater is an artist and illustrator producing work under the name of Fabric Lenny.
Sitting outside Browns on the corner of The Headrow, Fabric Lenny has turned his junction box into a mini-theatre. The red velvet stage curtains are drawn and what do they reveal.a pile of rabbits and hares balancing on top of each other...but this is just the start of a number of strange revelations. Watch that space as the artist reveals other new acts coming to Theatre of Hares and Graces over the coming weeks.
2. Jonathan Shaw
if only they had eyes.
Location: Outside Caffe Nero on The Headrow
Jonathan Shaw is a photographer based in Birmingham.
What would you see if you could climb inside this box outside Caffe Nero and look out? Well, photographer Jonathan Shaw is going to show you by reproducing a 360 degree photographic panorama from that very vantage point. "These junction boxes form part of the street furniture and bear witness to many strange and intriguing daily events; a sea of human bodies, faces and limbs that blur into one, occasionally giving way to moments of clarity as a face or feature emerges focused. I'm aiming to represent what the junction boxes would reveal if only they had eyes."
3. Electric Angel Design & John Wedgwood Clarke
Houdini Operator
Location: Junction of South Parade and Park Row
Electric Angel Design, and John Wedgwood Clarke, a visual text artist, are based in Scarborough.
This is a life-size box and that's a life-size man you can see inside it. Trapped, squashed like a pickled animal or Houdini in a tank reminding us that at one time all our phone calls were connected up by a human operator on the switchboard.
4. Tony Broomhead
Cosy
Location: Outside Jamie's Restaurant on Park Row
Tony Broomhead is an artist and an architect based in Sheffield
Cosy transforms a junction box sitting outside Jamie's restaurant alongside the tables and chairs, into a rather surprisingly large pompom hat. Taking its inspiration from how we insulate ourselves with woolly hats and the way electric cables need to be insulated, plastic electric insulating sheathing has been `knitted` into this cheerful, but sadly, despite its glorious pompom, un-wearable item.
5. Nick Cass
Park Row Drawing
Location: Outside No 1 Park Row near City Square
Nick Cass is a Leeds-based artist
Illusions on illusions at this box. This junction box design at the bottom of Park Row is inspired by motifs from the collection at Temple Newsam House in Leeds. Playing with the illusion of space by turning a two-dimensional surface into what looks like a three-dimensional one (sometimes called trompe l'oeil, a technique involving creating extremely realistic imagery in order to create an optical illusion so that the depicted objects appear in three dimensions). As well as creating the three-dimensional effect, he has used vinyl to give the illusion of oak veneer.
6. UNIT (Si Billam and Ged Walker)
Where there's muck.
Location: Island at the bottom of Park Row
UNIT is a Leeds based design studio working in the crossover
between graphic design and art.
Every town and city generates dirt and grime, and Leeds is no different, but at the heart of gritty reality lies a spirit of self-determination and `true Yorkshire grit`. Where there's muck...' playfully reflects how Leeds has become a thriving city in spite of the decline of the major industries that served to create its wealth. Sitting on the island at the bottom of Park Row, over-looked by the banks and financial institutions of the city, a message will slowly appear on this junction box. Literally cast in true Yorkshire grit, the message will become ever clearer as the detritus of the city attaches itself to the specially prepared surface.
7. Invisible Flock
Rear Window
Location: Outside the old Majestik opposite City Square
Invisible Flock are an interactive arts trio based in West Yorkshire.
Invisible Flock have transformed the box into a typical Leeds `back to back` terraced house. But this particular box has a secret to reveal. If you download the free software 'Junaio', a simple Augmented Reality platform available for iphones and most android devices, you will be able to see a film showing the secret life of the woman who lives in this house and become a viewer on an unknown neighbour. Informed by Hitchcock's seminal film, the piece places the viewer in the James Stewart role of the voyeuristic onlooker.
For more information on how to view the piece please visit www.invisibleflock.co.uk/rearwindow.html
8. Tony Broomhead
Street Furniture
Location: Outside the Railway Station
Tony Broomhead is an artist and an architect based in Sheffield
In contrast with the industrial painting of all Leeds' street furniture to a standardised colour, this box is lovingly hand painted to turn the humble junction box into a little flight of fancy: an elegant Victorian china cabinet embellished with classical features. This transformation brings a touch of domesticity into the civic arena.
9. Conway and Young
Colliding with the Corner
Location: Outside Revival nightclub on corner of Boar Lane
Conway and Young are a design collaboration based in Leeds.
The location of Conway and Young's junction box invites participation from two seemingly different the groups - the daytime commuter and the after dark clubber - but is there a commonality of experience? There are no images here, but a whole series of phrases which ask you to stop, smell and hear what is going on around you. So slow down for a moment, listen closely and breathe in deeply through your nostrils.
10. David Beckitt:
Inside Out
Location: Island in front of the Plaza Hotel
David is a Leeds based independent graphic designer.
Inside Out combines etched metal with acrylic to create a softly glowing effect that really stands out from its immediate surroundings. Transforming the surface of the junction box into something more complex and intricate reminds us that inside these little boxes lies a complex electronic circuitry working hard to keep the traffic lights and, therefore, the traffic of the city functioning, moving and changing.
Junction gratefully acknowledges the support of Jamie's Italian.
