Park Life

Eastside Projects are interested in changing the way that art is commissioned for new property developments in the UK. It is common for councils to encourage developers to invest in artworks via the town and country planning system (S106). Art is often commissioned to adorn public spaces, however we think that art should be useful and that artists can be innovative urban planners as well. Our proposition is to initiate a working method that involves artists at a much earlier stage of a development, so that they can be part of the design and planning processes.

Appointed by Cherwell District Council, Eastside Projects are the Commissioning Agents responsible for curating a series of public artworks for Longford Park, a new 1,000+ home development in Banbury by Barratt Homes, Bovis Homes and Taylor Wimpey. Developed through research and consultation, the Park Life family of useful public artworks which will be permanently installed across the public park and housing development include: outdoor pavilion Social Sculpture by Heather and Ivan Morison; Model Village bespoke bird-houses by Richard Woods; Ergonomic Sculpture a cast-iron seating sculpture by Nicolas Deshayes; and Help me spend £6k a participatory budgeting process by Rosalie Schweiker produced in collaboration with Longford Park Community Association. Developed over a period of years, you can find artists original proposals in the resources section below. The projects are currently in the production phase and are due to be completed during in 2022.