Beautiful and Brutal: 50 Years in the Life of Preston Bus Station - Conference

Abstract

This interdisciplinary conference investigated the life of the brutalist building, Preston Bus Station, and what has led it to play such a significant part in the development, and creative life of the city. It also considered the building’s role within the wider context of urban design and city development in the 21st Century. How did a brutalist building in Preston inspire so many people to campaign to save it from demolition?

The conference examined what made it distinctive enough to be listed, and how it ended up with its curved balustrades, the challenges of restoring it 50 years after it was built, the role of arts in the campaign to save it, and the building’s significance to the people of Preston.

Beautiful and Brutal: 50 Years in the Life of Preston Bus Station, a collaboration between Professor Charles Quick of In Certain Places and Curator of History James Arnold of the Harris Museum, Art Gallery and Library was a programme of new contemporary artist commissions culminating in an exhibition at the Harris Museum, and supplemented by an events programme that included architectural tours, a birthday party event hosted at Preston Bus Station itself and a conference hosted at the Harris. The project that set out to examine, reveal and promote the building’s significance to the people of Pres¬ton in terms of architecture, urban planning, social engagement and a source of artistic inspiration.

Commissioned artist Keith Harrison along with filmmaker Jared Schiller and Carl Brown of Preston Field Audio staged Conductor, a choreographed interruption into the daily life of Preston Bus Station. LOW PROFILE worked with a road marking company to create their site-specific text artwork PEOPLE, highlighting the role of the people of Preston in the creation and campaign to preserve Preston Bus Station. Filmmaker and artist Anna Raczynski made a series of 22 short films featuring interviews exploring a variety of individuals relationship with Preston Bus Station.

The three commissioned artworks were presented alongside archival exhibits and other works of contemporary art inspired by or featuring Preston Bus Station as part of the exhibition Beautiful and Brutal: 50 years in the life of Preston Bus Station.
The conference of the same name brought together experts from the fields of public art, architecture and historical collections to investigate the role of Preston Bus Station within the city and its importance both to the people of Preston and as an internationally renowned piece of architectural history.