Marking The Market

Marking the Market

A series of images from Drawing the Long Man of Wilmington in the Open Market

 

Bringing the Long Man of Wilmington to the Open Market is bringing a very iconic piece of the countryside to a market, to the city. It is a way to show the continuity of country and city. As a place where produce from the land is bought into the city, markets are vital centres of activity for exchange and crossover between places.

However the long man itself has broader significance for this project. As a human creation it is unclaimed, with ambiguous, multiple histories. It is also a poetic and artistic work of enormous proportions. We do not know who did it, or why and when. What does it represent? Is he holding the sticks of a scythe and a rake? Are they the frame of a gate?

For us to bring the Long Man to the Open Market is not a statement, it is in fact the opposite, it is a question. The question passes from the Long Man to us. As our gaze contemplates the figure, does the Long Man cast a spell and interrogate us?

The question of the long man’s origins and creation is reflected back at us. In the absence of an answer we decided to react with a question of our own; the creation of a manmade creature.


26th May from 12 pm to 5pm at the Open Market
(London Road, Brighton)

There will be a laboratoro performance at 4 pm

We will bring the Long Man of Wilmington to life in the Open Market.

Using the idea of the market as a hub of the city, a place where the country crosses over into the city, a place for the exchange of goods and produce, news, entertainment and new ideas, a group of artists will be recreating an iconic image from the Sussex landscape, marking this reciprocal relationship.

Marking the market is about marking the importance of markets in communal life. To bring the Long Man of Wilmington with his connotations of history, ancestry and humankind to a city market will remind participant and passers-by of the importance of integration and sharing communities.

The artists will be working all day in the Open Market with images, objects and sounds and members of the public are invited to visit, see how it develops and collaborate in the making.

The artists participating are:
Ed Briggs, Mim King, Jim Sanders, Ben Sheehan, Xelís de Toro and Vv