Greenwich Peninsula: Art on Hoarding
Greenwich Peninsula: The Long Short Story Backwards, Bob and Roberta Smith
Year
2008-9
Client
Arts Council England
London Borough Greenwich
Greenwich Peninsula (Lend Lease / Quintain JV) Greenwich Millennium Village (Countryside / Taylor Wimpey JV)
GLA (formerly Homes & Communities Agency)
Artist
Bob and Roberta Smith
Service
Commission Management
Collaborator
Vivienne Reiss
Funding
The National Lottery via Arts Council England
Location
Greenwich Peninsula,
North Greenwich, London
A temporary artwork for the hoarding at Greenwich Peninsula
Lnog Sroht Sroty Brawcads, was a single line of text that ran from one end of the hoarding to the other, from right to left. The artwork was realised on site over a 10 week period between September and November during which people were able to see the lettering and story unfold. The hand-painted text was an enormous undertaking.
The artwork operated as a puzzle that anyone one can try to solve. Understanding the text relied on the property of the brain to be able to read words where the letter order is jumbled up if the first and last letters of the word are correct. In addition to this the sentence word order was reversed. The installation, at 150m long, was Bob and Roberta Smith's longest artwork at that time, and might still be. There was a site specific performance for the unveiling of the artwork.
Sarah Butler and Aoife Mannix (poet and writer) worked with the Directors of Art and Leo Ulian, who was assisting Bob and Roberta Smith, to host a day of family activities at the GMV Visitor Centre, this included site tours and arts activities some of which were developed in response to the installation of Bob and Roberta Smith’s artwork.
“The Art on Hoarding pieces were inspiring and interesting – the first piece by Bob and Roberta Smith looks amazing and has attracted a lot of interest. Such projects can only enhance the profile of the Peninsula and make it an attractive place for creative industries.”
Art on Hoarding was conceived as an on-going programme. This was intended as the first phase of the initiative and it involved commissioning 2 site-specific art works for hoarding at the Greenwich Peninsula.
An associated education programme - 2 artist residencies in Millennium and John Roan Schools were also planned to take place.
“The Art on Hoarding project is contributing from a physical perspective and socially. It’s a much nice way of engaging with the community so they don’t feel like they’re living on a building site. The Backwards story is moving in terms of what it is communicating and it is linked in to the site in a quirky way. It is a really good example of the value of art in regeneration.”
Bob and Roberta Smith is the name of the British artist whose best known works include: Make Art Not War, which belongs to the Tate collection; and Letter to Michael Gove.
Bob and Roberta Smith see art as an important element in democratic life. Much of their art takes the form of painted signs. Central to Bob and Roberta Smith’s thinking is the idea that campaigns are extended art works which include a variety of consciousness raising artefacts.
Bob and Roberta Smith studied for his MA at Goldsmiths from 1991 to 93. He was an Artist Trustee of Tate between 2009 and 2013, and he is currently a trustee for the National Campaign for the Arts, and a patron of the NSEAD. He has recently been elected to be a Royal Academician.
Bob and Roberta Smith is actually one man. Before studying Fine Art at Goldsmiths in the early 1990’s, Bob lived in Rome, New York and Wensleydale, and now lives between Leytonstone in East London and Ramsgate.