Market

Town

Radar
3 Market Town

5 Foreword 34 Loughborough map

Matt Weston
38 ‘Ough’Ough
6 A conversation with the Europa and Peter Nencini
town of Loughborough
Nick Slater 44 A short note on towns and
their graphic communication
10 Loughborough Records infrastructure
Presents Presence (LRPP) Robert Harland
Can Altay
46 Firing the Generator
16 Sounds of a small town STEALTH.unlimited
Allan Watson
52 Designing happier and
18 Show Me How sustainable societies
Ania Bas Carolina Escobar-Tello

24 Market Town Corner 54 Market Lectures

Something & Son
26 Brand News
Kathrin Böhm and 60 Loughborough: From Market
An Endless Supply Town to Market Society
Mel Jordan
32 Town Centre Consumers
Cathy Hart 62 Contributors
5 MAT T W E STON, C O -DI RECTOR, SPAC EM A K ERS

Foreword
I moved to Loughborough when I was four. I was oblivious to where
we were or what we were doing but it turns out we lived over the
Nanpantan Road from the university. I went to the grammar school
which didn’t work for me but I was in the same art class as Ivan
Morison, now a public artist. Recently, he published these words on a
billboard on the exterior of Eastside Projects (an artist-run space as
public gallery in Digbeth, Birmingham):

“Artists know that the way to solve a problem is to begin.”

The problem is knowing where to begin, what to look for, what’s

worth doing. In Digbeth, landowners are sitting on buildings as
they are, waiting to see if HS2 happens (if it does, it will roll into
Curzon Street which is right at the end of Digbeth). In response,
Eastside are starting their own development company and Heather
and Ivan Morison are proposing an art house project, where they
build houses on stalled development sites with five year leases. We
(Spacemakers) mostly work in London. But in London regeneration
= gentrification unless you build social housing, unless you begin by
addressing ownership and power (or unless you begin in the suburbs
of the suburbs, where regeneration and London’s economy haven’t
yet stretched, where it isn’t sewnup, where the councils are waiting
to see if Crossrail happens).

I said bye to Loughborough when I was 18, and the impression I’ve
kept is of this uncute, middle of the Midlands town that’s really
not one but two towns: a university town with a 438 acre campus
(Europe’s largest), and a town town. They don’t see each other. They
don’t belong in the same dream. But beginning means the projects
documented in this book: it means getting lectures in the market
and markets in the campus, it means re-using the disused art
school, it means getting Kathrin Böhm to do anything she wants,
it even means billboards (this time by Europa and Peter Nencini).
These projects/this book might be where the two divergent parts of
the town come together and form new communities. It feels like the
start of something.
6 NICK SL ATER, D IR ECTOR , LU ARTS
A Conversation with the
town of Loughborough
Fifty years ago Loughborough town centre was a very different
place. It had a cattle market on Mondays, shops closed on
Wednesday afternoons and the university had just been founded.
The intervening years have seen rapid change. The trades that
occupy the town centre now no longer simply consist of butchers,
greengrocers and hardware stores, like many British high streets,
Loughborough now hosts shops selling mobile phones, e-cigarettes
and discounted goods.
In response to the changing face of our town centres the
government commissioned Mary Portas to develop the Portas
Review (2011) which developed a future vision for the sustainability
of our high street. Loughborough was identified as one of the
twelve English towns chosen to participate in the Portas Pilot,
a scheme that was intended to test out the recommendations
outlined in the review.
Market Town was designed to support this pilot, inviting
architects, designers and artists to respond to the Portas Review
and deliver a series of initiatives that made visible some of the
issues as well as engaging the community in a debate about its
future. It was also born out of a recognition that Loughborough
also had expertise in the future of retail (Dr Cathy Hart) and in
social design (Dr Carolina Escobar-Tello) and it had two arts
organisations (Radar and Charnwood Arts) with an interest in
working with artists within specific social contexts.
There were a number of areas we wanted to focus on, as we
believed them to be important in achieving a future town centre
where it’s citizens played an important role in its design and
operation. To this end, we wanted to include creative practices
that were interested in co-design, whether this be in terms of
architecture or identity (STEALTH.unlimited and Europa/Peter
Nencini); we wanted to address issues around consumption and
branding (Kathrin Böhm/An Endless Supply and Europa/Peter
Nencini); we wanted to develop new social spaces within the
7 architectural framework of the town (Can Altay); we wanted to
explore new economies (Ania Bas) and finally we wanted to consider
urban design, place making and the role of the civic university
(Something & Son).
Taking place in rooms above town centre pubs, an ongoing
programme of seminars extended the debate around the town
centre. This series of thematic conversations involved academic
presentations alongside practical delivery and brought together a
critical mass of local activists and instigators who were interested
in shaping the future of the town. The conversation was extended
further through the design and implementation of a shop space
known as ‘Market Town Corner’ located within the main town
shopping centre. During the eight months in which it operated it
functioned as a discussion space, a reading room, a workshop,
a community centre, bringing in new audiences and generating
further ideas.
The artist’s responses to the brief ranged from the playful to
the provocative to the practical but they were united in offering
creative responses to an area that is often stymied by more
formulaic solutions. I hope that the seeds planted by the projects
and the ongoing discussions can be further cultivated in order that
the town can not only survive, but flourish. Creativity combined
with community spirit can imbue a town with personality and
individuality, both of which are vital to its future economic success.
I would like to thank all the artists who participated in the
programme both in delivering high quality artistic commissions
and through the many workshops that formed part of the
programme. I would also like to thank all the speakers who
took part in the seminars and the academics who have not only
contributed to this publication but have been active partners
throughout the programme.
10 CA N A LTAY 11

Loughborough Records
Presents Presence (LRPP)
Can Altay is interested in how the unique characteristics of a
location can produce a particular brand of music, which in turn
develops an identity for the place. For Market Town Altay devised
Loughborough Records Presents Presence (known as LRPP). In
January 2016 he designed a temporary recording studio which
offered local musicians free use of equipment and help of an
engineer. It also functioned as a piece of social sculpture, open
for visitors when it wasn’t functioning as a recording studio.

The studio was open for a month, during which time it brought
together musicians from across the town and highlighted the
talent and range of music that exists locally. The recordings were
recorded by a skilled sound engineer who then made the tracks
available online.

In June 2016 to celebrate Loughborough’s annual ‘Picnic in the Park’

Altay returned to Loughborough and produced a special installation
this time in Queen’s Park bandstand. The ‘stage’ contained
components from the recording studio as well as aspects of the
projects wider identity. A selection of musicians who had recorded
at LRPP earlier in the year were invited back to perform live.

The recordings made in the LRPP studio can be accessed at

soundcloud.com/lrppresence

p 11 – 13 photographs courtesy of Julian Hughes

12 13
14 15

LOUGHBOROUGH RECORDS
PRESENTS PRESENCE

LRPP li ve

a project by Can Altay featuring the sound of Loughborough

P i cn i c

*LRPP is part of Radar’s Market Town project

i n t he
Pa r k
pe rf o r m ance

P
R
L
P
Loughborough’s musicians have joined LRPP
to write and record their music. And now
they are going to perfo
f rm it.
fo

Saturday 25 July 12.30 – 4.30

Queens Park Bandstand, Loughborough
@LRPPresence arts.lboro.ac.uk/
k radar @Lboro_Uni_Arts
k/
16 A LL A N WAT S ON , LECTUR ER IN HUMA N G EO G R A PHY, 17 for musical performance and the opportunity to capture these
LOUG H B OROUG H UNIV ER S IT Y performances on record. The range of sounds captured in over
seventy songs highlights the music richness present in the town,
from folk, rock and indie to gospel and kirtana.

Sounds of a small town
In her seminal work on music making in English towns, Ruth
Finnegan suggested that music making is part of the fabric of
English life. Yet, the development and visibility of a local music
scene in any give place is often determined not by the number
of people involved in musical practice, but by the presence of
key, locally-focused music infrastructure. Significant in this
regard are live music venues, but also important are recording
studios, record labels, and the music press. In large cities, such
infrastructure can exist in abundance, and particular cities in
the UK such as London, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and Leeds
are recognised as having vibrant, vernacular music scenes based
around local music creativity and live performance.
Yet, notwithstanding this variety, music represents a single binding
element for all of the musicians that recorded with the project.
Each song, in its own way, reflects the local geographical and socio-
economic context in which musical creativity takes place; they
represent authentic musical expressions of lived experiences in
the town. No track encapsulates this more than ‘Where the Green
Man Sleeps’, a track written about Loughborough as part of a
collective song-writing workshop. Opening with the line “Listen to
the echoes of the town”, the track provides a lyrical and emotional
representation of Loughborough. Through the musical encounter
and exchange facilitated by Loughborough Records Presents
Presence, local musicians have offered us a lens into life in this
small market town.
Listen to the recordings by visiting:
www.soundcloud.com/lrppresence

It is evident that many small towns lack such infrastructure. Small

live scenes may exist around a limited number of venues, but
other infrastructure such as practice spaces, recording studios,
and record labels, can be extremely limited. These towns exist in
a peripheral position to wider urban networks of music, arts and
creative industries. Yet, this does not mean that these towns are
not sites of musical creativity. Rather, it means that the musical
creativity that does take place is not immediately visible or audible
outside of the homes, practice spaces and small venues in which it
takes place: Finnegan terms these England’s ‘hidden musicians’.

In this regard, the ‘Loughborough Records Presents Presence’

project represents an important intervention in a small market
town like Loughborough, which offers limited visibility and
opportunities for musicians, and where settings for collective
musical encounters and exchanges are relatively rare. The success
of the project demonstrates the musical talent that lies ‘hidden’
in small towns, but which can emerge when infrastructure and
support is provided for musical performance and creativity.

The recordings created through the project have provided the

first contemporary ‘sonic map’ of Loughborough. They represent
a small town sound that would otherwise have remained far off
the musical map of the UK without the project providing a setting
18 A NI A BA S 19

Show Me How
Ania Bas delivered the first commission to take place as part of
the Market Town project, from June to October 2015. Her interest
was centred on the exchange of hands-on skills and the potential
to share knowledge which she observed as not necessarily
commercially sustainable and valued.

Bas devised Show Me How, which took the form of a series

of practical making sessions on a range of subjects, she created
paid opportunities for local makers to share their skills directly
with the local community in a hands-on manner. The sessions
included pottery, crochet, woodwork, and silversmithing, always
took place in the evenings and were situated in a pub in the town
centre – an environment that proved popular for informal making
and discussions.

The practical making sessions were complemented by two

discussion evenings entitled ‘Why Run a Co-op?’ and ‘How to
Run a Co-op?’ respectively, which featured speakers from
national co-operatives to discuss the motivations and practical
considerations behind their ventures.

Ania documented her progress through the commission through

a series of blog posts in which she shared her thoughts on the
experience, her inspirations, and how she reached her particular
interpretation of the Market Town brief. These warm and
enlightening posts are a must-read for anyone wanting a deeper
insight into the commission and into Ania’s processes as an artist.

p 19 and 23 photographs courtesy of James Woodcock

p 20 photograph courtesy of Kevin Ryan
p 21 and 22 photographs courtesy of the artist
20 21
22 23
24 R A DA R 25

Market Town Corner

Throughout the duration of the project, Market Town took over a
shop unit in the town centre’s Carillon Court Shopping Centre.
Converted into a flexible project space the regular shop fixtures
you would expect to find were replaced and the shop became a
space for the exchange of ideas. Its specially commissioned interior
had a large work table, book shelves heaving with resources,
notice boards for comments and ideas and an urn that was rarely
switched off – visitors were invited to spend time in the space,
make a drink and feel comfortable.

This unique space known as Market Town Corner, was widely used
for all kinds of activity; workshops, seminars, film screenings and
public debate. It was also the public-facing ‘shop window’ of the
project, open for anyone to pop in and spend time with the changing
displays that were designed to document the inner workings of the
overall project and the individual commissions as they developed.

Throughout the Market Town project the space was also used as
a way of capturing ideas about the future of the town – visitors
were encouraged to leave comments about issues they felt were
perhaps overlooked in other kinds of public forum. These ideas were
recorded and provided source material for the Loogabaroogian’s
Guide to the Future, a zine that was created by Nathan Jones
and Sam Skinner (Torque Torque) who worked with young people
from the town who took part in workshops as part of 2015’s
Loogabarooga Festival, an annual festival of literature and
illustration that takes place across numerous venues in the town.

In this vein, people’s thoughts (and specifically memories) of

Loughborough formed the basis of a project, The Loughborough
Jewels, led by jewellery maker and historian Dr Roberta Bernabei
(Loughborough University). Through a series of workshops Bernabei
recorded interviews with participants using personal objects as the
starting point for their conversation. These formed the basis for a
new series of work made by Bernabei in which memories that were
shared were transformed in to wearable, highly personal, jewellery.
26 K AT H RI N BÖ H M A ND A N END L E S S SU PP LY 27

Brand News
Kathrin Böhm is working with trade and economy as shared
public realms, and many of her projects create circuits of
collective production and public exchange where every aspect of
a production cycle – from making to branding to reinvesting –
becomes publicly accessible.

For Market Town Böhm suggested to take on one aspect of the

cycle: the act of branding. In a public exercise which became known
as Brand News an entire shop and its contents were up for an
individualised re-branding.

In collaboration with the designer team An Endless Supply

and with the assistance of Harvey Hermann, Böhm ran dozens
of hands-on workshops for Loughborough based groups and
individuals inviting participants to un-brand an everyday product
found in a town centre newsagents. Ashby Square News, a family
run business, agreed for every single product to be taken off the
shelf and it’s look and message to be reimagined.

For one day in February all displays and products were exchanged
with the results from the Brand News workshops. Dominant
brands disappeared and familiar products became un-recognisable.
Customers couldn’t identify what they wanted by brand alone.

“The result was a shop as a public cultural space where brands were erased for one
day and goods were given an identity by us who use them.” — Kathrin Böhm

The multiple roles of the shop and those who run and use
it were foregrounded. The shop became an experiment, an
exhibition, a collective DIY branding event, and straight forward
relations between user and producer, consumer and trader
were unhinged temporarily.

p 27 (top) and 28 photographs courtesy of the artist

p 27 (bottom) and 29 photographs courtesy of Julian Hughes
p 30 photographs courtesy of Ben Nichol
28 29
30 31
32 CAT H Y H A RT, S ENIOR LECTUR ER I N R ETA I L I NG,
LOUG H B OROUG H UNIV ER S IT Y
Town Centre Consumers
Following the economic crisis of 2008 and subsequent recession,
UK town centres changed visibly as retail stores closed and
consumer confidence reflected in the declining footfall. The
Government response was to commission an independent
review of town centres. In 2011 the Portas Review set out 28
recommendations for government action. In a bid to revitalise the
country’s high streets, 27 Portas ‘pilot’ towns were selected to
test out new ideas for regeneration. Notably, the pilots sought to
rejuvenate the community hubs traditionally associated with town
centres, to expand beyond commercial activity, to become dynamic,
exciting and social places.
Portas and government ministers stated that to prosper in an era
of online shopping, town centres must adapt in order to survive.
Core to this was the need to understand the changing ways
in which consumers use town centres. Digital technology has
revolutionised consumer shopping, affecting consumers’ physical
relationship with town centres. Consumers now interact with a
diverse range of services, technologies, leisure activities, events
and communities in their high street. Visiting the town centre has
become a wider experience but what constitutes the experience
and how can towns use this knowledge?
In an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded study
partnered by major retailers, Loughborough University investigated
the customer experience across 13 different town centres. Tracking
consumer perceptions and interactions, whether physical or virtual,
within town centres, created a comprehensive picture of consumer
behaviour within the changing urban landscape.
Town centre experiences involve consumer journeys, which
comprise a series of touch points or ‘memorable interactions’.
These include a combination of both functional and experiential
touch points. Functional touch points satisfy the practical tangible
purposes of the visit such as the range of stores, availability of
products, convenience, parking and easy access to the centre.
For consumers to revisit, town centres need to ensure customers
33 can easily fulfill the primary purpose of shopping trips, otherwise
they will switch to competing towns or online shopping. With
online shopping predicted to replace more of the physical shopping
activity, how can town centres add value to this experience?
Experiential touch points engage the consumer’s sensations,
feelings and emotions including the softer, intangible aspects
such as the atmosphere, social interactions with other people,
picking up bargains, using cafes and restaurants, special events
and cultural activities. Our findings showed that the experiential
touch points directly influence the consumers’ desire to stay in
the town centre, increasing their loyalty and sense of belonging
to the town community and their intention to revisit. Importantly,
the experiential touch points are what differentiate a town from
competing centres or online shopping.
As one of the 27 Portas Pilots, Loughborough, through its
Business Improvement District (BID) Team and town centre
partnership has been proactive in driving change in the town
centre. Working with the Loughborough BID, consumer routes
were mapped across Loughborough town centre. Typically, 60%
of consumers follow habitual routes through the town. These were
often limited to familiar stores, in a smaller concentrated area.
Heat maps identified the most frequented locations or ‘hot spots’
and the least visited ‘cold spots’. These findings could then be
used to introduce physical improvements in signage and the
public realm, or marketing interventions to influence consumers
to discover new attractions.
Understanding consumer behaviour identifies the most relevant
factors that add value to the overall town centre experience and
guides how to improve town centre performance, in order to
attract and retain consumer patronage.
The resilience of Loughborough town centre is indicative of
the need to balance retail, services, community and social uses,
entertainment and cultural activities. Looking forward, it is vital
that town centres are shaped to be fit for future consumers’ needs.
The Market Town project has shown that by engaging artists,
designers and the community to debate the Loughborough vision,
it has taken the first steps to shaping this new experience.
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across the town centre and in a wide range of
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venues around the outskirts. This detailed listing V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V

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1 The Generator Building
12 Frederick Street
Firing the Generator
Public event
30 September – 2 October 2016
2 The Swan in the Rushes
Public House
21 The Rushes, LE11 5BE
Why run a co-op? seminar
26 June 2015
The New Maker Economy seminar
Andrew Sleigh, Caroline Chapain,
Hannah Fox, STEALTH.unlimited
15 July 2015
Identity, Civic Pride and
Civic Place seminar
Europa, Robert Harland,
Finn Williams, Patrick Lacey
30 September 2015
Digital Citizen seminar
Ben Eaton, Guy Douglas
11 February 2016
Creative Markets
Janet Currie
31 March 2016
3 Ashby Square News
2–4 Ashby Square, LE11 5AA
Brand News Installation
Public event, part of Market Day
6 February 2016
4 Charnwood Arts
27 Granby St, LE11 3DU
Brand News workshops
5 Rendell Primary School
Rendell Street, LE11 1LL
Brand News workshops
6 Market Town Corner, Carillon Court
Swan St, LE11 3XA
Play Loughborough
Ruth Catlow
22 August 2015
Ethical Jewellery & DIY
Household Products workshop
17 September 2015
Map Your Market
Lara Salinas
19 September 2015
How to run a Co-op
1 October 2015
Fruit Routes Exchange
17 October 2015
Loogabaroogarian’s
Guide to the Future
20 October 2015
Cheap Thrills! Zero Budget
Film Festival
31 October 2015
Shouting Quietly: Workshop
for Creatives & Independents
Pete Mosely
4 November 2015
Loughborough Jewels workshop
Roberta Bernabei
21, 22, 23 & 30 January 2016
Loughborough Records
Presents Presence workshop
January 2016
Market Day, Public event
6 February 2016
7 Fearon Hall
Rectory Road, LE11 1PL
Firing the Generator workshop
25 – 27 November 2015
Brand News workshops
8 Market Square
Market Centre Offices
Brand News workshops
Market Lectures
Public event
28 & 29 April 2016
9 The Falcon Centre
27–31 Pinfold Gate, LE11 1BE
Brand News workshops
10 The Organ Grinder Public House
4 Wood Gate, LE11 2TY
Show Me How workshops
June – August 2015
The Rise of the Local seminar
Kathrin Böhm, David Boyle,
Naomi Diamond
26 November 2015
The Civic University seminar
Clare Meluish, Darren Smith,
Andrew Merritt, Paul Smyth
20 September 2016
11 John Storer House
Ward’s End, LE11 3HA
Brand News workshops
12 Loughborough Library
Granby St, LE11 3DZ
Brand News workshops
13 Charwnood Museum
Granby St, LE11 3DZ
Brand News workshops
14 Queen’s Park
Granby St, LE11 3DZ
Perimeter Perambulations
Helen Stratford
17 October 2015
Loughborough Records Presents
Presence @ Picnic in the Park
25 June 2016
15 Outwoods Edge Primary School
21 Redwood Rd, LE11 2LD
Brand News workshops
16 Loughborough College
Radmoor Rd, LE11 3BT
Brand News workshops
17 Loughborough University
Epinall Way, LE11 3TU
Brand News workshops
University Market
27 April
‘Ough ‘Ough Billboards
A Moira Street / New King Street
B Belton Road / Derby Road
C Ratcliffe Road / Meadow Lane
 38 EURO PA A ND PE TER NENC I N I 39

‘Ough’Ough
Graphic design collective Europa and illustrator Peter Nencini
worked collaboratively on a project they named ‘Ough’Ough.
“Our work in Loughborough has engaged us with thinking about
identity and place and a graphic designer’s role in relation to this.
Much of our time visiting Loughborough has been seeking out the
unusual bits that contribute to the character of the town – the
‘ough’ and the ‘ough’ rather than the ‘L’ and the ‘bor’.”

After making several visits to the town they made a series of

responses, both graphic and text-based; the visual ‘studies’ were
printed larger than life on a series of billboards located within the
town centre. These were accompanied by a specially designed
website: www.oughough.uk which hosts an essay that deals with
issues around identity and the visual representation of a place.

“A place can never be viewed as a whole. Taking a reading of a place is a useful way by
which we can provoke a conversation about a place. We have worked with a range of
objects that reference stories that we have encountered in the city. The work we have
created is not presented as the new identity for Loughborough, it does not claim to
define the place, but it is a response to Loughborough that explores its identity in an
open ended way.” — Excerpt: The Identify Façade, www.oughough.uk (2016)
40 41
42 43
44 ROBERT H A R L A ND , LECTUR ER I N V I SUA L C OM MUN I C AT I ON 45 to function. At the scale of a town, this may comprise of shop
(G R A PH IC DES IG N) , LOUG H B OROUGH UN I V ER S IT Y fascias, transport infrastructure, clocks, murals, manhole covers,
statues, sports pitch markings and more. But although there may
also be a football pitch, there is unlikely to be a football stadium,

A short note on towns and

or an international airport for that matter. Nor is a town likely to
exhibit the high-tech communications such as interactive building
skins, responsive artworks, intelligent floors and walls, or media

their graphic communication installations. Such objects depend on larger scale infrastructure.

infrastructure Welcome to the

University Town
To envisage a town in terms of settlement size locates it
somewhere between a village and a city. Towns are said to reside on
of

LOUGHBOROUGH
a settlement continuum, as shown here:

isolated dwelling — hamlet — village — town — city — conurbation — megacity

Twinned with Epinal, France
However, trying to establish an exact definition for a town is
futile. Towns mark the watershed between the extremes of total
Schwäbisch Hall, Germany
rurality or total urbanity, and thus display a balanced set of rural Gembloux, Belgium
and urban traits, which contribute to their popularity as places and Zamość, Poland
to live. The traits associated with rural suggest natural things
such as mountains, fields, trees and hedges, and we may call this
landscape. Conversely, urban is associated with the buildings,
streets, passages, pavements, and the wide variety of man-made
objects that give us a sense of townscape. At their most appealing, Settlement size is reflected in the relative sophistication of a
landscape and townscape present us with a sense of visual settlement’s communication needs, and is fulfilled by a diversity
coherence and order. of urban graphic objects that contribute to place making and
legibility. This is dependent on the scale at which graphic design
In his book The Concise Townscape, Gordon Cullen referred to functions as urban design, from the simple numbering of a house,
townscape as ‘an art of relationship’, taking into account the way to the complex network of communication infrastructure found in a
buildings, trees, nature, water, traffic, advertisements and so on, megacity.
are interwoven with dramatic affect. He captured the essence of
scale by contrasting the difference between an isolated settlement,
with no amenities, and the surplus generated in a city that affords
its inhabitants a restaurant, library, bank, church, and so on.

Across this settlement scale, there is a consistent element in

western culture that is part of our everyday existence. A standalone
house may have a house number, or house name. These graphic
objects differentiate one home from another, and more acutely so
in larger settlements. With more amenities in a city, there is the
need for more complex graphic communications enabling places
46 STE A LT H .UNL I MI TE D 47

Firing the Generator

Social architects STEALTH.unlimited Ana Džokić and Marc Neelen
were keen to use their Market Town commission to join in an
involved and unique process of consultation surrounding one of
Loughborough’s most iconic buildings, known as ‘The Generator’.

Firing the Generator was designed to bring Loughborough’s new

cultural, creative and entrepreneurial hub: ‘The Generator,
Loughborough (Community Interest Company / CIC)’, to life.
Through a series of interactive and participatory stages this project
has tested the building’s future form and function, a public open
weekend, held at the end of September, beginning of October 2016,
created to give a real glimpse to the possibility (and reality) of such
a venture.

Throughout their commission STEALTH.unlimited worked closely

with the CIC to support the vision that it maybe transformed into
a hub for artists, creatives, and designers. Here they reflect on the
Open Weekend:

Most of us, during the weekend, sensed that it was a remarkable and unusual
occasion. Crucially, it was the first instance in which the discussion about the future
of this building, and the needs of Loughborough’s artistic, cultural and creative
community, took place in (part of) the building itself. It was a live test, “dreaming for
real”, of what this emerging group can become, what they potentially can achieve and
also what nightmares might be still luring on the way ahead.

After all the talks and the physical work on site, one thing stood out: the understanding
that for an endeavour like ‘The Generator’, the financial plan has to emerge from
the ambitions and limitations of its community, rather than from what the building
tries to lure us into. The building is the tool – not the goal. Finally, we can shut down
the temporary generator that we brought in for this weekend, and wait for the real
Generator to take hold here!

p 47 – 50 photographs courtesy of Kevin Ryan and STEALTH.unlimited

48 49
50 51
52 CA RO L I N A E S C OBA R- TE LLO , L ECTUR ER I N DUSTRI A L /
PRO DU CT DES IG N, LOUG H B OROUGH UN I V ER S IT Y
Designing happier and
sustainable societies
Increasingly, design is re-examining the role it plays in the
happiness and well-being of people, and the sustainability of the
planet. In order to really design for and with these values a radical
approach is needed; requiring a transition which fits our ever
more complex and interconnected world at a broad system level.
Ultimately this requires focussing on the big picture: building
sustainable societies. The indications are that changes need to
occur not only at the production and consumption level of artefacts,
products and services, but also the way in which they promote
‘better’, happier and healthier experiences. In order to enable the
aforementioned transition we must consider environmental and
technological requirements, as well as social.
So, how do we get there?
Sitting within Loughborough Design School, the perspective of this
research holds the firm understanding that sustainability is not
unidirectional. It involves addressing its four dimensions (social,
economic, cultural, and environmental) in a balanced interlocking
way where people are part of a wider symbiotic system and by no
means at the centre of it. It is about co-sustaining life in all its
forms, in ‘rhythm’ between all, with a time-scale that is neither
immortalising, nor market driven. On this basis then, design
approaches and designers are called in to re-orient their creative
initiatives into holistic sustainability directions. This encourages
the reinterpretation of the relationship between products, services,
and users; approaching design from a new perspective where the
characteristics of what is meaningful for people sits at its core.
One of the main outcomes of this research is the ‘Design for
Happiness’ framework (2010), which combines for the first time,
elements of sustainable design, sustainable societies and happiness
into one framework. Its interdisciplinary and collaborative nature
encourages new thinking through co-design, and social innovation
that leads to meaningful and successful design solutions which
consider both the individual and the community. The framework’s
53 method delivers a collection of experiences that contribute to the
proliferation of happiness not only because of themselves, but also
because of the way in which they require people to behave and live
in general.
With the aim of shaping innovative, commercially viable and
practical sustainable solutions to global social problems, it is
our continuous ambition to build a strong repertoire of these
experiences (case-studies) which can be shared and replicated in
various contexts and countries around the world. It is early days
so we are continuously learning how to deal with the challenges
that such projects pose for all the stakeholders involved (students,
academics, communities, local councils, etc). For example, such
projects and the solutions they generate are intrinsically complex.
They, therefore, cannot be streamlined into ‘single results’; their
motivations, time frames, results and quality are multiple. The
traditional boundaries between educators, designers, stakeholders,
and end users also become increasingly blurred. This complexity
offers an enriching experience for all parties involved in such
projects; adding value, and reflecting the true challenges of such
bottom-up initiatives. At the same time, as evidence suggests, this
complexity creates tensions between the current socio-technical
platforms of today and those emerging from the innovations. The
most recent cases of this are enabling trialling its methodology
at a larger scale, and its delivery within local community projects.
They include a variety of social innovation design projects and
Design for Happiness workshops inside and outside academia, with
communities and business in developing and developed countries
such as the UK, Colombia, and Mexico (Social Innovation Design
Projects, 2014 – present). These have been in addition to research
funded projects such as ‘On The Town’ (2016) which focuses on
community flourishing, their happiness and wellbeing; it seeks to
improve peoples’ lives through community ‘building’ activities led by
young local groups for and with young local groups. As well as Riant
by design (riantbydesign.co.uk.) – a social enterprise which through
the unique Design for Happiness framework delivers workshops to
businesses to enable the design of happier and more sustainable
lifestyles that fit our ever more complex and interconnected world.
54 S OME T H ING & S ON 55

Market Lectures
London-based design collective Something & Son approached
their commission as an opportunity to test their observations
and research into the relationships between the town and the
university. Their work on this project set out to find playful and
imaginative ways of bringing the town’s two most iconic assets,
the university and the market, at least temporarily, together.

They created a structure that was installed at different times in

both university and marketplace settings. The structure was duel-
purposed; a hybrid market stall with tiered seating suitable for a
public lecture.

The structure was then used as a centre piece for a series of

public ‘works’. The town’s market stalls and traders were
invited on campus for the first ‘University Market’, followed
by a series of ‘Market Lectures’ involving nine Loughborough
University academics leading a series of public lectures in the
town’s market place.

These events demonstrated to potential for interventions –

the possibility for empty spaces on campus to be appropriated
by local businesses as well as opening up the seemingly closed
‘market’ of the University to small independent traders. By
disrupting the traditional patterns of trade on campus they hope
to provide a blueprint for the future whereby there is this sort of
engagement with the town and its suppliers.

Their project culminated in the creation of a new kind of charter

– rather than the existing university and market charters ‘The
Loughborough University Town Charter’ is designed to bind
the University and the Town with one vision – the best of both
institutions combined makes Loughborough the best University
Market Town.

Read the charter in full by visiting:

www.loughboroughuniversitytown.org

p 55 – 58 photographs courtesy of Julian Hughes

56 57
58 59

Cambridge

Oxford Loughborough

These sketches, produced as part of Something & Son’s research, demarcate the locations of
university buildings (shaded areas) in relation to each campus host town / city centres (circles).
60 MEL JO R DA N, A RTIST A ND AC A DEMI C , R E A DER I N ART A N D
THE PUBLIC SPH ER E , ROYA L C OL L EG E O F ART
Loughborough: From Market
Town to Market Society
During the 1990’s, under New Labour, the roles given to cultural
policy became convergent with other government policies in order to
tackle serious deprivation within post-industrial towns and cities.
The concept of art as an economic driver has encouraged the use
of art within urban regeneration, in visual ‘place-making’ and in
art biennials, thereby contributing to the re-branding of towns and
cities for inward investment as well as making them attractive as
tourist destinations.
In 2011 the UK government commissioned Mary Portas to undertake
an independent review into the state of the town centre awarding 27
towns, (including Loughborough) funding to test out her vision.
‘High streets must be ready to experiment, try new things, take risks and become
destinations again. They need to be spaces and places that people want to be in. High
streets of the future must be a hub of the community that local people are proud of
and want to protect.’ — The Portas Review
Radar’s Market Town project utilises the Mary Portas Review as
a starting point to establish an arts programme in the public realm.
The artists and groups that have contributed to the project are:
STEALTH.unlimited, Something & Son, Can Altay, Kathrin Böhm
working with design collective An Endless Supply, Ania Bas and
Europa working with illustrator Peter Nencini. All these artists have
experience of engaging with specific communities; their practices
involve responding to the physical shape and context of particular
public spaces, as well as exploring alternative forms of dialogue
and exchange.
Participatory art practice also referred to as social art practice,
relational aesthetics and new genre public art can be described as
an art that accentuates social and spatial encounters over material
form. As a subject of study, participatory art practice has had a
significant artistic and critical interest since the early 1990s hence
it is considered a common practice within contemporary art. Art
61 historians that are engaged with the discourses of participatory
art practices have focused on the dialogical aspect of these
practices (Kester, 2004), the instrumentalisation of participatory
art practices within cultural policy (Bishop, 2012, Hewitt, 2011,
Miles, 2005) and the relational (Bourriaud, 1998).
The architecture collective, Assemble, won the Turner prize in
2015 for the renovation of ‘neglected’ streets in the Toxteth area of
Liverpool. Assemble worked on behalf of the Granby Four Streets
community land trust, they admit that the group of empowered
citizens were already well on their way to re-thinking the renewal
of the place and that the community group foregrounded the need
to utilise design and architecture to do this. In 2014, the shortlist
for Artes Mundi Prize, (the £40,000 prize is the largest art award
in the UK) included nine artists four of which work with people
in the public domain to produce artworks. Additionally the artist
Jeremy Deller represented Britain at the 55th Venice Biennale 2013.
Well known for his social interventions, his 2012 Hayward Gallery
exhibition was entitled Joy of People and demonstrated Deller’s
ability to work with people to do incredible things. Deller won the
Turner prize in 2004 in recognition for such works as the Battle
of Orgreave, a re-enctament of the miner’s strike at Orgreave and
Acid Brass in which Deller convinced the Williams Fairey brass band
to play acid house music.
The Market Town project is part of this commitment to
understanding art as a social and critical practice, producing
artworks that are generated from and embedded in the collective
fabric of a place. The Market Town programme of commissioning
has enabled a group of artists to engage with the physical and
social sites of Loughborough town centre. The artists have
implemented activity that contributes to the future understanding
of how people use and occupy specific types of collective spaces
as well as exploring a range of ways of how people ‘make’ and ‘do’
things together. The artist’s endeavors enable us to reconsider the
function of a market town. By emphasizing the collective ownership
of our cities and towns and concentrating on them as essentially
social places we turn Market Towns into Market Societies.
62
Contributors
Can Altay Often touching on the urban social condition and paradoxes
of civilization, Can Altay investigates the functions, meaning,
organisation and reconfiguration of public space. His ‘settings’
provide possibilities of collective production while maintaining
a critical reflection on artistic activity. Incorporating objects,
photography and installation, his work is staged and manifested
through the spaces, exhibitions and publications he produces.
He had solo exhibitions at ar/ge kunst (Bolzano); SALT (Istanbul);
Casco (Utrecht); and Spike Island (Bristol). His public projects
include: “Distributed” (London); “The Church Street Partners’
Gazette” (London) and “PARK: bir ihtimal” (Istanbul). Altay is
Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Department
Head of Product Design at Istanbul Bilgi University.
An Endless An Endless Supply is a graphic design studio based in Birmingham,
Supply UK, founded in 2011 by Harry Blackett and Robin Kirkham. We
work as designers with artists, not-for-profit and commercial
organisations, producing identities, printed matter and design
for the web. Recent commissions have included contributions to
publications, exhibitions and a variety of projects that have involved
setting up a village honesty shop, re-branding a newsagents and
running a print-on-demand Risograph service.
Ania Bas Ania Bas is an artist working across text, performance, publishing
and social engagement to create situations that support dialogue
and exchange and question existing frameworks of participation.
She is interested in the ways that narratives shape understanding,
mythology and knowledge of places and people, and in supporting
the exchange of skills and knowledge that are not necessarily
commercially sustainable and valued.
She is a co-founder of The Walking Reading Group on Participation,
and was an Open School East associate in 2013/14. She has worked
with a number of galleries including Tate, Whitechapel Gallery,
Camden Arts Centre and The New Art Gallery Walsall.
Kathrin Böhm Kathrin Böhm is a UK based artist and founding member of the
art and architecture collective Public Works, and the international
artist initiative Myvillages. Kathrin has a long-standing interest in
the collaborative making and extending of public spaces through
methods of collective production, distribution and usage.
Current and recent projects include “Trade Show” at Eastside
Projects in Birmingham (co-curated with Gavin Wade), 2013, the
“International Village Show” at the Museum for Contemporary Art
in Leipzig, 2015 – 16 and “Company Drinks” a Barking and Dagenham
based community drinks enterprise, since 2014.
Kathrin contributes regularly to discussions and research about
art and economy and the making of new public realms. She is
organising monthly “Haystacks” events that address connections
between urban and rural practices and realities, and is involved in a
number of self-organised initiatives such as the Eco Nomadic School
and is co-founder of the artist led “Keep it Complex” campaign.
Carolina Carolina is a forward thinking researcher, designer, and facilitator
Escobar-Tello working across industrial, product, service, and systems design.
Sustainability, happiness & wellbeing, social innovation, creativity,
systemic thinking, and a pro-active mind-set shape her role as a
designer and agent of change. She has professional multidisciplinary
design experience in the industrial and governmental arena
(UK; USA; Europe; South America). In addition she has extensive
experience in design teaching, facilitating workshops, and project
management ranging from the academia to the industry. Currently
a Lecturer in the Design School at Loughborough University (UK),
her work has been published in journals and international peer
reviewed conference proceedings.
Europa Europa is a graphic design studio formed in 2007 and run by Robert
Sollis and Mia Frostner. Gareth Lindsay joined the studio in 2013
and Lauren Budestschu in 2015. In parallel to their studio Europa
run the second year of the BA Graphic Design course at Camberwell
College of Arts. Europa design books, signs, graphic identities
and exhibitions for institutions such as Wellcome Collection, Tate
Modern, Royal College of Art, Somerset House, Victoria & Albert
Museum and Greater London Authority, artists such as Ryan Gander,
Martin Beck and Alice Channer and architects such as East, DK-CM
and We Made That.
Robert Harland Since joining Loughborough University in 2008, Robert has
undertaken a number of roles. In 2016 he was elected to Senate, the
University’s most senior academic body, adding to his work as chair
of the School’s Learning and Teaching Committee (2011 – 14). More
recently he was invited to join the School Research Committee as
an advocate for the University’s six research challenges, as well
as leading the School Changing Environments and Infrastructure
challenge (2015 – present). Robert’s academic research, coupled
with extensive industrial experience, explores multidisciplinary
perspectives on the relationship between theory and practice for
graphic design and urban design.
Cathy Hart Cathy Hart is Senior Lecturer in Retailing and Leader of the
Town Centres Research Interest Group at the School of Business
and Economics, Loughborough University. Originally a textile
designer, Cathy worked in the textile and fashion retail industries
before joining Loughborough University as Sainsbury Retail Fellow.
Cathy has researched and published in the areas of retail
image, assortment and consumer behaviour. Cathy began
researching town centre consumers over 12 years ago, successfully
leading a range of funded research projects. Her ongoing research
into the ‘Town centre customer experience’ has been funded
by the Economic, Social and Research Council with support
from project partners including Argos, the Association of
Convenience Stores, Action for Market Towns, Boots UK and
the British Retail Consortium.
Mel Jordan Mel is an artist and academic; she works collaboratively with Dave
Beech and Andy Hewiit as the Freee art collective. At the Royal
College of Art she is Head of Programme for Contemporary Art
Practice and Reader in Art and the Public Sphere. Her research
and subsequent artworks present a critical examination into the
degree to which public sphere theory can contribute to an expanded
understanding of art and its publics.
Peter Nencini Peter Nencini has worked across print and television with Svenska
Tecknare, New York Times, BBC, Channel 4, and Théâtre National
de Toulouse. Recent commissions for Eastside Projects Birmingham,
Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, Walker Art Center
Minneapolis and Wallpaper* / Salone del Mobile Milan have resulted
in architectural models, prostheses for furniture, pedagogical
apparatus, props for performance – narrative forms that oscillate
between the typo- and the picto-graphic. He teaches at Norwich
University of the Arts – previously at Camberwell College of Arts,
Ecole Supérieure d’Art et Design Valence, Sint-Lucas / Vooruit
Ghent, St. Brides London, Pratt Institute New York.
Something Something & Son is a London based practice founded by Andrew
& Son Merritt and Paul Smyth in 2010. Their work reflects their varied
backgrounds and shared passion in art, social systems, the
environment and engineering, leading them to produce popular,
provocative and witty work that tackles social and environmental
challenges of our time. A keenness to collaborate has led them to
work alongside and amongst others; swift experts, mushroom men,
scrapyard merchants, farmers, scientists, horticulturalists, sound
engineers, manicurists and sociologists… As often as possible
they look to build projects with a legacy by producing business
models to help ensure a lasting future. Through their work as
Something & Son they set up a farm in a shop, new systems of
mass customisation, built an experimental community spa and
with Makerversity created London’s largest Makerspace.
STEALTH. STEALTH.unlimited (2000, Rotterdam/Belgrade) is the practice
unlimited of Ana Džokić and Marc Neelen. Although initially trained
as architects, their work is equally based in the context of
contemporary art and culture. Through intensive collaboration
with individuals, organisations and institutions, STEALTH connect
urban research, visual arts, spatial interventions and cultural
activism to mobilise a collective making of the city.
Allan Watson Allan Watson is a Lecturer in Geography and researcher in the
Centre for Research in Communication and Culture (CRCC)
at Loughborough University. His research interests focus
predominantly on the geographies of music and the musical
economy, as well as film and media. His research draws together
both geographical-relational and sociological perspectives on
cultural production, labour and consumption.
Matt Weston Matt Weston is part of Spacemakers, a utopian regeneration
agency that tries to get inside the machinery of regeneration,
and use it for good instead of evil. www.spacemakers.info
Market Town was a Radar
project, comprising six
commissions, designed to
explore and examine the future
of Loughborough. Radar aims
to bring together artists and
academics to identify areas of
shared research and develop
contemporary art commissions
alongside different forms of
critical debate.
This project would not have
been possible without Sophie
Evingar, Sally Hodgson, Suzanne
Hoogers, Sophie Louise Hyde
and Jo Mardell (former Radar),
Kate Self (Producer, Radar) and
Niki Russell (LRPP Presents).
And our partners: Michael Bird,
Head of Markets, Fairs and Town
Centre Operations and team,
Jonathan Hale, BID Project
Manager, Love Loughborough
and team, Kevin Ryan and team
at Charnwood Arts and Sylvia
Wright, Head of Leisure &
Culture, Charnwood Council.
For any enquiries please contact:
luarts@lboro.ac.uk
www.arts.lboro.ac.uk/radar
radar.loughborough
Lboro_Uni_Arts
Radar
Nick Slater, Kate Self,
Rachel Morris
Design
Mark El-khatib
Print
Rope Press
p.8 – 9: Loughborough,
Market Place, c. 1965.
© The Francis Frith Collection
Show Me How
Ania Bas would like to Creative workshops October
acknowledge: 1, 2016: Jemma Bagley, Sarah
Green, Dan Fiddis, Emma J
Workshops led by: Crafty Sew Lannie and Kevin Ryan
& So, Sarah Green AKA Super
Crochet Girl, Joanne Keog, Peter Drawings: Paul Gent
Leadbeater, Mariana Rubino,
Hannah Smith, David Towers, Performances: Circus Hub
Emma Ward, James Woodcock Nottingham, Mark Elliott, Chris
Conway, Beth Morris and Anna
Why to run a co-op? and my Charlotte
How to run a co-op?
Footprint co-op, The Star & Dreaming for Real workshop
Shadow Cinema, The Bristol participants October 2, 2016: Led
Cable, CASE (Co-operative and by Kevin Ryan with Jill Vincent,
Social Enterprise) Deana Wildgoose, Ana Džokić,
Atta Kwami, Pamela Clarkson,
Firing the Generator Chris Traill, Jackie Edwards,
STEALTH.unlimited would Nick Slater, Marc Neelen, James
like to acknowledge: Chantry, Faizan Qureshi, Upesh
Mistry, Bill Brookman, David
Concept and spatial design: Pagett-Wright
STEALTH.unlimited (Ana Džokić
and Marc Neelen) Special thanks to: Kevin Ryan
and Frances Ryan for their
Event programme: Kevin Ryan, hospitality, as well as Pamela
Catherine Rogers and Megal Clarkson and Atta Kwami for
Powell (CIC “The Generator, their care
Loughborough”) in collaboration
with Nick Slater
Construction: Erik Jutten,
Ana Džokić and Marc Neelen,
with generous help of Pamela
Clarkson, Atta Kwami, Mike
Kroll, Kevin Ryan, Natalie
Chabaud, Ashok Mistry, James
Chantry, Kole Redmile, Mike
Millward, Bill Brookman,
Madeleine Coburn, Frances
Ryan, Faizan Qureshi and
others. Part of the market
structure by Something & Son
for the Market Town program
has been used in the spatial
set-up.
Workshop November 2015 with:
Borut Šeparović
Can Altay
Ania Bas
Kathrin Böhm and An Endless Supply
Europa and Peter Nencini
Something & Son
STEALTH.unlimited