Portraits of a Bus Station by Anna Raczynski

Abstract

Anna Raczynski created video portraits of twenty-two individuals, capturing their particular memories and impressions of Preston Bus Station. The participants come from across the city and further afield. Each interview has been carefully edited to capture the essence of their encounter with the building.

The people range from bus drivers and architects to students and writers, representing different genders and cultures, ages and status. The portraits reveal the personality of each person, allowing them to share their encounters and measured, insightful observations. The final collection of voices maps the social architecture, and both critical and supportive comments combine to reveal the importance of the building to the city.

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.