Practising Place – After Castle Market: Salvaging the Urban Obsolete

Abstract

Practising Place is a programme of public conversations, designed to examine the relationship between art practice and place. Each event is hosted at a different venue in the North of England and explores a specific aspect of place by bringing artists together with people from different backgrounds, who share a common area of interest.

After Castle Market: Salvaging the Urban Obsolete explored issues of urban renewal, gentrification, memory and value, through a focus on Lucas’s recent residency within Sheffield’s Castle Market – an indoor market and example of mid-twentieth century Brutalist architecture, which was closed in 2013 in advance of its imminent demolition and replacement by the city’s new Moor Market.

Presenting her short film, After (2013), Victoria Lucas discussed her experience of working within what was once a vibrant market hall, as well as her interest in the wider theme of ‘failed utopia’. Additional perspectives were also provided by Emma Fraser, who discussed her research into the experience and consumption of urban ruins. Through conversation, Lucas and Fraser discussed the relationship between urban progress and obsolescence, and examined how creative practices can help to ‘salvage’ the urban obsolete.