Several years ago I worked with Nathaniel Rackowe in the the Forest of Dean. Nathaniel developed the technology with Jason Welsby, to create ‘Spin’- a work made of electro-luminescent wire that creates a visual illusion of being a spinning 3D box high up in the air. That was in 2008 for Reveal (video). Since then Spin has been developed and has appeared in South America and now in New York.
It’s SO important that we remember that whilst delivery of a project is framed within a time span, according to the hatch-match-despatch way of funding projects, art lives much longer and doesn’t stop there. And the people that work with the projects continue to work together, and employ people. Art creates economy – as Dame Liz Forgan recently said: “The contribution to the arts from general taxation is a minute 0.05 per cent of the national budget, down from an exciting 0.07 per cent a year ago and lower than when Margaret Thatcher came to power. Last year the government’s grant in aid was £400 million. Add another £213 of Lottery players’ money (please note NOT government support for the arts) and the total came to £613 million. It got £26 billion back in gross value added by the cultural and creative industries.”
Spin by Nathaniel Rackowe in Lima
Carolyn Black 