Show Windows: Reflections: Window

Photo: © Steve Baker, English Heritage 

I’ve been commissioned to create a piece of work that will engage people visiting the City Arcade - encouraging them to interact with the Show Windows: Reflections project. A number of shop fronts in the Arcade will show work from the Government Art Collection throughout November 2021 relating to the theme ‘Coventry in the World’. One of these works is the video piece Letter to an Unknown Person No.3 by Rachel Lowe in which the artist is seen drawing the passing landscape on a car window, capturing some of the shapes of the outside world as it moves along.  In relation to this, and the Show Windows project itself, I will be setting up a mock window that can be drawn and written on by members of the public.  

I initially thought how it would be interesting to literally get people to draw on one of the shop windows – looking out at the arcade (and potentially into the shop), but apart from it raising some logistical and covid-related issues I figured it would be more engaging and impactful to bring this ‘window’ out into the shopping centre itself. By so doing the work enters the public space and becomes more visible and accessible. The window will be moved for each session to provide different vantage points in the arcade. 

The glass itself offers a sort of ‘blank canvas’ upon which there is opportunity to play, draw, mark-make, write or reflect. One of the key ideas is for people to ‘trace’ the things they can see through the window (the shops, the shapes, the architecture, the people) - directly connecting them to their surrounding area and encouraging a new perception of the City Arcade. There is the opportunity to reimagine the Arcade – for people to draw/decorate over their view of the space with things from their imagination. I will be using images of the early arcade at Christmas in the 1960s to offer ideas - I found these really interesting to look at. Inspiration can also be drawn from what is seen through the window or from the art works displayed in the exhibition and the themes it raises such as hope, journey and migration.