Ward 8, Phase 1, An Open Studio
As part of Glasgow Life’s Creative Communities Artists in Residence programme for Ward 8, South Central, Swap Market delivered An Open Studio, a collaborative and playful exploration of local creativity, exchange, and shared ambition.
The project was rooted in Swap Market’s Southside exchange space and led by Swap Market’s Ailie Rutherford and associate artists Alex Wilde, Najma Hussein Abukar, Alaya Ang, and Rae-Yen Song. The team connected with creative organisations and community groups across the ward to learn about existing initiatives and what people hoped for.
This culminated in an open studio and Market Forces events at Swap Market, which invited groups to reflect on the collective proposals developed through consultation. Public engagement continued with weekly drawing clubs at Swap Market, Gorbals Library and Govanhill Library, which welcomed young people, families, and older craft groups. The audio recordings from the Market Forces events are available to listen to on the Feminist Exchange Networks Soundcloud.
A creative skills Timebank Tombola was taken out on the streets and to the Gorbals Festival, while a community snakes and ladders game mapped local stories in a playful, participatory way, celebrating imagination, shared knowledge, and social connection.
The transcript below captures the opening words from the artists at the
"Market Forces" event they hosted at the culmination of their residency.
The event invited discussion on art and gentrification, developed
through the Open Studio during the residency. It sits alongside the
audio works and conversations that followed, offering a starting point
for the themes and questions explored throughout the event.
Alex: Artists Alex Wilde, Ailie Rutherford, Rae-Yen Song, Alaya Ang and Najma Abukar have been working with Swap Market (an exchange space in Govanhill for sharing resources, ideas and knowledge) to research creative activity across the Southside Central Ward. This research is part of a city-wide programme of artists in residence in every ward in Glasgow, funded by Glasgow Life and Glasgow City Council. The intention is to develop a proposal based on the outcomes of the research.
Ailie: There is already a huge amount of creative activity happening across Southside Central. With this breadth of creative activity taking place, often against the odds, we propose that the last thing Southside Central needs is a new artist in residence programme. What we need is to find a way a way of better supporting existing creative activity, giving time and space for creative people to come together, form collaborations, alliances, share knowledge and resources, have a collective voice, to allow us to work together to develop ideas and address some of the larger issues at stake in our communities.
Alaya: We are particularly concerned about issues of gentrification in Govanhill. While we believe we have a right to make our communities more vibrant and enjoyable places to live, we need to find a way of ensuring that this does not cause the current community to be dislocated. With the rise in the number of artist-run studios, galleries and artists in Govanhill, we are also aware of how this presence can transform the identity of the neighbourhood but also brings to questions the role of artists in bringing about gentrification to the area - specifically how an Artist in Residence programme can be “.. for the kinds of market-reinforcing, property- and promotion-based, growth-oriented, and gentrification-friendly policies that have been repackaged under the creativity rubric” (quoting Jamie Peck)
Listen to the discussions and invited speakers from Swap Markets "Market
Forces" event.
A special thanks to community partners, supporters and contributors: Oatlands Allotments | Romano Lav | The Barn, and their artist in residence | Mind and Draw | Milk Café women’s art club | Gorbals Fair | Chai and Chat women’s group | The Well Multicultural Centre | Gorbals Library | Govanhill Library | St Luke’s art class | Gien’ it Laldy song group | Living Rent | Bike for Good | Arc Independent | Southside Studios | Komplex | Govanhill Arts and Environment Network | Govanhill Community Development Trust | Govanhill Baths | Rags to Riches | The Deep End | Kiosk | The Outwith Agency | WAVEparticle | Citizens Theatre | Govanhill Picture House | Glasgow Zine Library | Place-Age | Ice Cream Architecture | Crossroads Youth and Community Association | Link Up | Men’s Shed.
Image - Najma Hussein Abukar
