Alien Nation - Apologies
All around Exchange Place studios there are posters with a promise and an apology surrounding an artist’s impression of how this area will soon be transformed. The project has a name: From Grey to Green. It might be one of the last regeneration projects supported by the European Regional Development Fund. Every time I see it the melody from ‘Jerusalem’ comes into my head, written by William Blake as poem (prelude to Milton) in 1804 and put to music by Hubert Parry in 1916. The poem finishes with the words: Till we have built Jerusalem in Englands* green and pleasant land. (* no apostrophe)
In the picture there is a girl on a bike. She sits upright and wears no helmet and seems carefree. (I think she looks Dutch) It is summer and the colours of the flowers contrast with the building visible in the background An old satanic mill perhaps?. The people in the picture appear to be culturally diverse, going about their business. So pleasant, so green, so happy this promise. The apology almost seems unnecessary but then it’s so English to say sorry. Just for a little time …. until March 2020, it will be a bit messy, the traffic diverted, the roads dug up, the building work noisy and dirty. It will be better when it’s done. This will be a striking public space that will improve climate change resilience and flood prevention.
The Brexit discussions are still going on of course. The deal, the no deal, the talk of a second referendum, general election, trade deals with the USA where, if the story of today is to be believed, we will soon be able to sell the Melton Mowbray pork pie but not at what price. I can’t imagine that new trade deals will give us bike paths with carefree cyclists surrounded by wildflowers. I can’t see that new trade deals will focus on climate change resilience and flood prevention either. But maybe I’m wrong. The language of promises has to be optimistic. We have to believe it otherwise we wouldn’t put up with the mess that comes before the realisation.
I’m making a small piece for this Exchange Place exhibition with the theme of ‘regeneration’. It opens in November. I have been scratching my head over it but it has been staring me in the face all along. The picture, the melody, the words, their meaning … chanting, shouting, screaming and apologising, promising improvements, a better time to come. “Believe! Believe! The days of of being shackled to our Dark Satanic Mill will soon be over and we will build Jerusalem”. That’s what it’s going to be.
