Bloom98
BLOOM98 - THE LIVE TRANSFORMATION OF TWO ALLOTMENT SITES IN THE UK (1998).
A site touring allotment illumination show
Over 20 artists / groups involved
Over 200 allotment gardens and cooperators
Over 40 acres of special land…
2 and a half years in the making…
One-off event(s), 2,500 audience visitors…
Never been seen before documentation below…
BLOOM98 HANDSWORTH ALLOTMENTS BIRMINGHAM (UPLANDS):
Bloom98 happened along time ago…The idea was inspired by my friendship with the UK’s National Allotment Champion Mr Bernard Ostler (1992-1996) in Hull, East Yorkshire where we both lived at the time. In 1997, I became good friends with Bernard and following a pilot event on his site in which I changed his allotment via light illumination (day into night), I was then fully supported by the Arts Council of England and many inter-regional agencies to make and develop a touring artwork show / event. What followed were two large scale touring evening events on two allotment sites in the UK. The first in Birmingham at the Uplands allotments (the largest mulicultural allotment site in the UK celebrating its 50th birthday) and the second, a fortnight later in Basingstoke (Eastrop Allotments). Each event and the combination of workers and supporters, styles of allotments,combined with logistics and special requests, made each event contrastingly different both in terms of the event itself, the selected artists in attendance and the ongoing socio-cultural implications…..
After 12 months of detailed planning, negotiations with allotment committees, allotment owners, supporting organisations and companies - Bloom98 finally went ahead in the summer August 1998.
Over 20 artists were commissioned to explore their artwork on site, in-situ, in which I served as artist director and visionary. Of course, such an event, with technical and logistical challenges, would not have happened without willing managers, technicians and volunteers - commited to making the event happen to a roving 3000 audience crowd. A special thanks to Sandra Hall and Lee Griffiths (www.frictionarts.com).
Shortly before Bloom98, Bernard Ostler passed away. Having had no formal celebration of his 40 years of his allotmenteering, Bloom98 was dedicated to our friendship and to the man himself.
Bloom98 dedicated to Bernard Ostler, National Alloment Champion (1992-1996).
Above: A small fragment of some of the documentation from the two events.
The first album concerns the event in Basingstoke. The remaining albums are taken from Birmingham Uplands Allotments (the largest multi-cultural allotment site in the UK).
Shortly after Bloom98 in Handsworth, Create magazine ran a special feature which included this frontcover.
Five years after Bloom98, David Crouch features a dedicated article as well as using a front cover image from the event.
