We’re twinning Crawley with the rest of the world! Not the whole town, however, just tiny parts of it!
Created and led by artist Eric MacLennan, In visible (L) ink is coming to Crawley Library and Broadfield Library.
Small areas, such as a paving stone, a post-box, and a street lamp will be ‘twinned’ with an equivalent in another part of the world. These small parts of Crawley are a reflection of what the town looks like now and help to rekindle a love of place.
There will be a selection of photographs of ordinary objects from various places in Crawley for participants to choose. These act as the starting point for people to share their stories and their links with other parts of the world.
A reflection of our connections. A reflection of people and place. A reflection of friendship.
What is it?
Eric will be in each library where people can participate in the project. Each participant will pick a photo of an object in Crawley/choose their own object that is somewhere public in Crawley and share a memory about it. They will also be invited to think about an important person in their life who lives somewhere else. They will then twin this tiny part of Crawley with their friend. Eric then maps this and records the person sharing their story.
A large map of the town will be displayed in the library showing all the places that have been twinned. This map will grow over the course of the project as more people take part.
For more information and questions, please email our Community Producer [email protected]
Dates
Eric will be in residence for 4 weeks in Crawley.
Crawley Library
- Tuesday 14 May – Saturday 25 May, 11-5.30pm each day (not open on Thur 23 May)
Broadfield Library
- Tuesday 28 & Wednesday 29 May, 10.30-4.30pm
- Thursday 6 June-Friday 14 June, 10.30-4.30pm (week days) and 11-1.30pm (Saturday) (not open Mon 10 June or Wed 12 June)
How do I sign up?
Just turn up, it’s as simple as that! It’s FREE to take part. You’ll find Eric on the ground floor with his sign.
Who can take part?
We recommend children aged 7+ take part, but the project is for everyone.
What happens next?
All the people who take part will have their stories audio recorded and later be made available on our website (via Soundcloud). The locations of the twinned objects that match each recording can be found using What3Words geocodes. More information to come soon.
The project came to a close with two Twinning Ceremonies which all participants were invited to. This involved two walks to see some of the twinned objects and reveal a temporary plaque at each.
- Saturday 22 June, 12-3pm. Followed by cream tea at Broadfield Arts Festival hosted by The Posh Club.
See these links for films of previous ceremonies in Sutton, Woolwich and Eltham.
Sutton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMzDmBvc_70
Woowich & Eltham: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pes4BLqxeaU
In visible (L) ink by Eric MacLennan is presented in Crawley by Creative Playground. The project is hosted by Crawley Library and Broadfield Library.
Image: In visible (L)ink in Crawley, June 2024. Credit: Ian Greenland.
About Eric MacLennan
Eric MacLennan has been making innovative performance work for nearly thirty years.
During this time he has worked as an actor and director with many world class companies including DV8 Physical Theatre; David Glass Ensemble; V-TOL; Citizens Theatre Glasgow; Red Shift; Manchester Royal Exchange; Bristol Old Vic; Theatre of Comedy Company; Royal National Theatre Studio; Boilerhouse; Volcano; Lumiere & Son; Shunt; Station House Opera; National Theatre of Scotland and the Young Vic.
Over the last ten years he has been creating his own distinctive work whose practice occupies a unique space somewhere between theatre, movement and the visual arts. This current focus defies a pigeon-hole definition but may be described as performance art.
The work is bold, cutting-edge with a clear focus on its audience, challenging, provocative but always entertaining.
Inspired by philosophy and comedy in equal measure his work questions our unconscious habits, challenges conventions and isn’t afraid to say the unsayable!
