Page 46 - Studio International - September 1968

Pavilions in the Park
should be made on this count, for Pavilions in the
on the Thames Embankment until Park, randomly allocated, could reveal a whole
the end of October new undergrowth of activity in the arts which
doesn't normally surface.
The pilot project for the 'Pavilions in the Park' Work in the pilot project was chosen randomly,
scheme has been under way since 1 August on a but in this case only a limited number of invitations
site on the corner of Oakley Street and Cheyne to apply were sent out (1,000 forms). It is intended
Walk, on the Thames Embankment opposite the that when the scheme is being run on a larger scale,
Albert Bridge. The site has been loaned by Wates by a local authority for instance, advertisements
Ltd., and with the help of the Peter Stuyvesant with application forms should be inserted in the
Foundation and a small grant from the Arts local and national press. Those that are returned
Council, the organizers of the scheme have had are then placed in drums and from these the exhibi-
water and electricity installed, provided toilet facli- tors and performers are randomly chosen.
ties and erected three pavilions in which artists, At the time of writing (early August) there are
writers or musicians can show or perform their three pavilions for artists' and performers' use on
work and a fourth pavilion where information, the Oakley Street site designed by Polyhedral
soft-drinks, ice-cream and waffles are available. Developments and made from corrugated paper-
Although not a park, the pilot site is very acces- board. There are other types of pavilion that
sible and large notices entice passers-by. The idea artists and performers can choose, including inflat-
is that this is a demonstration of how the scheme able and light-proof structures. The first three to
could be run, by local authorities or similar bodies have occupied the site are Li Yuan-Chia showing
in any part of the country, using any open space his magnetic multiples and constructions made of
which is available and suitable. What is essential is brightly-coloured plastic rope that the spectator
that the method of random selection of work to be can alter and rearrange, Barry Martin with pro-
shown or performed—the most interesting and grammed kinetic and light works and Ron Geesin
original aspect of a generally exciting scheme—is declaiming his poems and playing on the banjo
fully preserved. For this is where the real break- and piano amidst white painted cut-outs of land-
through can be made, getting away entirely from scape and clouds.
the selection committees, juries and 'personal taste' Paul Overy
of welfare-state art encouragement, or the com-
mercial considerations of the dealers' galleries.
This will no doubt be the most difficult aspect of
the scheme to 'sell' to public bodies, local councils, left One of the pavilions designed by Polyhedral
etc., but it is most important that no compromise Developments at the Oakley Street site.
Younger British artists in New York
Michael Vaughan Cake 1967
48 x 48 in. oil on board
From the exhibition 'Painted in Britain'
which opens at Macy's, the New York store, on
September 3. The selection comprises works
by fifteen painters under forty, including John
Hoyland, David Hockney, John Walker, Allen
Jones and Patrick Caulfield. In his catalogue
introduction Mario Amaya, who organized
the exhibition, points out that 'there still has been
no comprehensive museum survey in New York
of younger British art'.