bench

Hi my name is Les ? I?m an artist who makes stuff and who works with people.

I was really drawn to your particular experience of democracy ? it sounds like it

was a good night out mixed with radical thinking.

When I make things I am interested in my role as somebody in the middle ?

often working for and with several opposing sides ? but at the core I?m trying to

solve problems creatively.

Your proposal has thrown up a lot of questions in my household ? what does

democracy look like? What does democracy feel like? Should the bench illustrate or

enable democracy? What shape is democracy?

I have made a few benches for different types of places and experiences.

Like the 26 benches for a footpath in Norfolk each with a text that is specifically

written in response to where it is. The words on each bench can be read individually

or all benches can be read as a whole ? they allow for a moment ? a pause to reflect

in our busy world.

The benches I made for a new supermarket in Diss, a town in East Anglia, take

their forms from the shape of buildings previously on the site. They have equations

cut into them, which were generated from conversations with the people of Diss.

With each viewing their meaning can change.

For a sort of time travel experience the seating/benches for Norwich with the names

of long forgotten buildings and people cut into steel which is wrapped around wooden blocks ?

reminiscent of bales of goods arriving on the river and taken off boats.

The bench needs to make one thoughtful ? maybe a single word or sentence cut

into the stone ? or opposing shapes or symbols which would make up a third idea

or form ? the idea of one voice becoming strong by joining another. Or how about

50 words that are submitted and voted on by the audience, which are then developed

into equations which are then cut into stone.

I am taken that the gardens you have chosen have so many influences and cultural

references ? the text could reference this through the use of different typefaces or use

the languages of audience members.

I would want to make the bench very solid ? unmovable ? as if it had been there forever.

I would use granite blocks saved from the old County Hall G.L.C. building. A stone mason

I work with has in his field ? a nice cyclical, symbolic experience that might be reflected

in the possible shape of the proposed bench ? a circle maybe but this could be voted on.

the budget is no problem - for 1800 you get everything in place - sorted, made and secure.

Not sure if you want a particular idea to vote on or to be part of an ongoing discussion ?

but I guess that I'm proposing -

a block of granite recycled from the old G.L.C. cut into the shape of democracy with

words chosen by yourselves cut into it.

let me know what you think