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

Abstract

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

This exhibition brings together archival material, films and literature with objects associated with the building and the people who use it. Explorative new contemporary art commissions by Keith Harrison and LOW PROFILE examine the relationship between people, buses and architecture, and Anna Raczynski’s video portraits present memories and opinions from across the city and further afield. These are featured alongside contemporary artworks inspired by or including Preston Bus Station including works by Shezad Dawood, Nathaniel Mellors and Simon Faithfull.

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.