Empty Spaces

In May of this year I spent a month in Sandnes in the West of Norway as artist in residence at KINOKINO Art and Film Centre. My experiences of Sandnes were all positive and I found the city had a friendly atmosphere, combining it's industrial past with it's more recent modern development.

I particularly enjoyed walking through the pedestrianised 'Langgata' with it's cafés and markets but couldn't help noticing the numerous vacant premises on this street and some of the surrounding streets. It seemed a shame that the otherwise vibrant atmosphere was being shadowed by these empty spaces and I felt they were having a negative effect on the atmosphere. 

I believe that opening the spaces up to creative individuals or collectives to use as work or exhibition spaces at affordable short-term rents would optimise their use until they become commercially viable again. It would also bring life to the spaces making them a more attractive prospect for retailers. I have conducted some research and have found projects successfully using a similar model in Australia and Canada and across New Zealand. 

Using these projects as a model I am developing a similar project for Sandnes city centre that will bring mutual benefit to creative individuals and collectives, property owners and the people of Sandnes. The project requires further development and funding (that could be acquired from both private and public sources). If this is a project that you would be interested in supporting or contributing to in any way I would be very happy to hear from you. 

Meanwhile, to help digest all of this, here is another sketch from the collaborative project with photographer and writer, John Hughes. 

This one is from a piece of writing about a larger than life character who works as a 'head of security'.

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