A Balloon for Britain – Extract from a conversation with Creative Review regarding King’s proposal to revitalise Britain’s ten poorest towns and cities
A Balloon for Britain, 2012. C-type prints, 10 parts, each 45 x 30cm / 17.7 x 11.8 in.
The following is an extract from an interview with Patrick Burgoyne. Creative Review magazine, 25 May 2012.
PATRICK BURGOYNE: Can you tell me a bit more about the work? A Balloon for Britain, for example, I imagine is a reaction to the current vogue for public art and attempts to revitalise cities in that way - what do you think about the use of ‘Public Art’ in the UK at the moment?
SCOTT KING: A Balloon For Britain is me imagining myself to be a government employed ‘think tank’ that has come up with the idea of floating gigantic party balloons over Britain's ten poorest towns and cities. The think tank is agreed that gigantic party balloons will lift flagging spirits and encourage regeneration in ‘post-industrial’ areas. So yes, this idea relates directly to how ‘Public Art’ has been deployed in Britain ever since the completion of Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North – that is, government and local councils believe that if ‘we have one of those’, then poverty, crime and unemployment will, if not cease, at least be tackled in a highly visible way. These public artworks, in their minds, become talismans of ‘A New Hope’... they see these huge artworks, effectively, as rebranding exercises. But they do not tackle the real issues – to use a cliché of marketing/PR speak, they do not see that huge monumental sculptures – tourist attractions – are only ‘Band-Aid’ solutions. Yes, vintage clothing shops, small galleries, and latte cafes do open up in the shadow of these artworks. But they aren’t a real cure for poverty, unemployment and, well, an essential lack of manufacturing industries... or jobs.
Balloon photography: David Gill
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