The Master Plan

Co-published in 2012 by Book Works and Situations, edited by Claire Doherty, and designed by Polimekanos (96 pages, full colour, ISBN-13: 9781906012380).

The Master Plan is an artist’s book, authored by myself, as a complementary project to the 'Wonders of Weston' public art programme commissioned by Situations and Field Art Projects for Weston-super-Mare. The programme formed part of Sea Change, a national initiative to support the revitalisation of British seaside towns in 2010. This book takes as its inspiration reconnaissance material gathered whilst researching Wrights & Sites' permanent commissioned work Everything you need to build a town is here. The unpublished transcript of a public meeting for the post-war redevelopment of the town acts as a catalyst for a visual exploration of redevelopment and regeneration from the ‘fantastic acropolis’ of Portmeirion to SimCity master-builders. I annotated the transcript of this 1947 meeting with historical and contemporary found material, photographs and newspaper cuttings. The book concludes with a conversation between myself and Claire Doherty which explores the context of regeneration as an inspiration and hindrance for contemporary artists.

The book was launched at the Whitechapel Gallery as part of the 2012 London Art Book Fair, with a public presentation and discussion between Claire Doherty and myself that considered the potential for regenerating coastal towns through artistic intervention.

The Master Plan was one of fifty artists' books featured in Michael Hampton's book Unshelfmarked: Reconceiving the artists' book (Uniformbooks, 2015), and was reviewed by Art Monthly in December 2013.

You can buy The Master Plan from Book Works here.

You can view Polimekanos' The Master Plan page here.

Images: Stephen Hodge, Max McClure, Phil Smith, Cathy Turner, Harold Baim Film Productions, Polimekanos, Maxis Software.