Windmills of change
Can art excite public engagement with ideas of social and environmental change? To find out, the Barbican Gallery with support from the RSA’s Arts and Ecology Centre, commissioned Dalston Mill as part of the Barbican exhibition Radical Nature – Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969–2009.
For three weeks over the summer, the experimental architectural group EXYZT created a 16-metre tall working windmill next to a temporary wheat field at Dalston Junction, East London. It was situated on disused rail tracks hemmed in by dilapidated buildings, a site previously avoided by the public. But the architects recognised the opportunity of a patch of land set back from the busy road and separated from the commerce of the high street. They used it to create a temporary oasis. By working with the local community to present music performances, workshops and a range of local food the art project transformed the use of the area, attracting more than 12,000 people between 15 July and 8 August.
The project brought together two works: a recreation of artist Agnes Denes’s art work, Wheat Field, a Confrontation (Battery Park, New York, 1982) and responding to the wheat field, EXZYT designed the mill specifically for the site. Dalston Mill did not propose an alternative self-sufficient lifestyle but demonstrated a different way we could behave – with more resourcefulness, more pro-social behaviour and engagement with community networks. Local expertise was essential to the success of the project. The Hackney-based Arcola Theatre produced many of the events and shared their in-depth knowledge of the communities and complex dynamics of the area. Architects muf art/architecture recommended the site to EXZYT, having investigated the rail tracks, along with other poorly-used areas, during their research into the role of public space in Dalston’s cultural life.
The Windmill’s temporary nature was explicit in the materials used to build it – hired scaffold pipes and tarpaulin – materials usually used during construction rather than as built constructions. In truth, the Mill didn't work particularly well and the dough baked in the Mill’s oven was not made from the harvested wheat field. But that was never its purpose. It was always an art installation (an artwork you can walk into), and by entering the windmill audiences became active participants. The truth created by the Dalston Mill story was that public spaces can be made by cultural activity. New people were drawn to a site daily and created things (mainly pizza, music and discussion) with people they didn’t already know. And the main message to come out of the project? You need to act purposefully if you want to change your local area – or someone else will come and do it for you, whether you like it or not.
For three weeks over the summer, the experimental architectural group EXYZT created a 16-metre tall working windmill next to a temporary wheat field at Dalston Junction, East London. It was situated on disused rail tracks hemmed in by dilapidated buildings, a site previously avoided by the public. But the architects recognised the opportunity of a patch of land set back from the busy road and separated from the commerce of the high street. They used it to create a temporary oasis. By working with the local community to present music performances, workshops and a range of local food the art project transformed the use of the area, attracting more than 12,000 people between 15 July and 8 August.
The project brought together two works: a recreation of artist Agnes Denes’s art work, Wheat Field, a Confrontation (Battery Park, New York, 1982) and responding to the wheat field, EXZYT designed the mill specifically for the site. Dalston Mill did not propose an alternative self-sufficient lifestyle but demonstrated a different way we could behave – with more resourcefulness, more pro-social behaviour and engagement with community networks. Local expertise was essential to the success of the project. The Hackney-based Arcola Theatre produced many of the events and shared their in-depth knowledge of the communities and complex dynamics of the area. Architects muf art/architecture recommended the site to EXZYT, having investigated the rail tracks, along with other poorly-used areas, during their research into the role of public space in Dalston’s cultural life.
The Windmill’s temporary nature was explicit in the materials used to build it – hired scaffold pipes and tarpaulin – materials usually used during construction rather than as built constructions. In truth, the Mill didn't work particularly well and the dough baked in the Mill’s oven was not made from the harvested wheat field. But that was never its purpose. It was always an art installation (an artwork you can walk into), and by entering the windmill audiences became active participants. The truth created by the Dalston Mill story was that public spaces can be made by cultural activity. New people were drawn to a site daily and created things (mainly pizza, music and discussion) with people they didn’t already know. And the main message to come out of the project? You need to act purposefully if you want to change your local area – or someone else will come and do it for you, whether you like it or not.
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