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LEILA HOUSTON

Not long till "All The Worlds Futures" & the all important La Biennale di Venezia & my collaboration with Italian artist Chiara Enzo in Italy

9/20/2015

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Not long till "All The Worlds Futures" & the all important La Biennale di Venezia & my collaboration with Italian artist Chiara Enzo in Italy

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UPDATED- leilahoustonart.weebly.com/investigating-the-centre.html

9/15/2015

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Part 1. Investigating the Centre

Investigating the Centre is the first part of a sixteen-month project. This part was shown to develop feedback at this years Summer Art Trail 2015. Leila Houston currently is working above a pub restaurant at The Queen of Bradgate, Leicester and is producing many investigations to create a two large installations covering two rooms .

Investigating the Centre  is a study of Community environments relating to the pub restaurant situated below. She recorded a discussion around pubs and community environments whilst sat in a pub. The discussion shows little rehearsal, she invited people she had briefly met and people that inspired the investigation.

Leila was born and brought up in a large Community Centre in London which her parents ran for 11 years. It was eventually knocked down a few years later after her family had left.

She decided to show something that wasn’t dry and formal but something that showed the passion behind the people who's lives are or have been rooted in community, people who act on their beliefs and those that lived within the walls of a ‘Centre.’

Photograph by Clare Rogers

Leila Houston

Part 1. Investigations of The Centre

Sound, run down space, 50s TV, a large mirror, frames with out images, visitors are encouraged to sit and bring up a drink and listen, Beer mats designed and text taken from the recorded discussion

Wullie (1970's)

This was shown as a brilliant community led project made in the 1970s, a film made by the children of Greendykes and a film very similar to the one i grew up making with my father, many other young people and other youth workers in London.

Craigmillar Playschemes, Edinburgh.
With some help from Carl Heideicen & Donald Houston (Father). Appearing is Lurch (our dog) & Louise Houston (Sister- On middle a space hopper and singing a wee song at the end)

See also
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYf5iFMSlBM

Further Developments

I work organically, a mix of discussion, research, making and play. I work with various environments in mind. At present, I have two run down rooms, in an old building above a pub and will be exploring some ideas on and off site.

From the discussion various ideas have developed. Like creating something from beer mats using sentences from the recording and ways to make the sound appear as a reactive pendulum within the space, as well creating a way for the sound to be interactive. I've also put up frames without pictures representing the community venues that no longer exist this needs to be explored further. In the second room i will be using the darkened space to represent ‘reflection’ and create moving, reflective trinkets, something abstract, but something that creates an experience for the viewer and a sense of play.

Photographs from the top floor of The Queen of Bradgate

Reflective Trinkets Designs
'Reflective Trinket'

'From the Bulb'

The Summer Art Trail is coordinated by Leila Houston and the Silver Vine Arts Artist Collective - from doing this, currently Leila is separating 'dry' and 'mathematical' from 'emotional' and 'imaginative.' With 600 questionnaires charts are being made and statics counted aswell as training videos written to help the projects longevity. There is an 'space' of 'being in the moment' of a community event and what that actually means and how would one express this as an art work which is interest.