The NewBridge Project : Gateshead
Lloyd’s interactive exhibition explores public attitudes towards work (paid and unpaid labour), how free-time is valued, and potential futures of work, including policies like Universal Basic Income.*
The exhibition includes an A3 Risograph poster, hand painted wall texts and a series of events.
* Universal Basic Income is a monthly payment to all citizens of a geographic area that would cover the basic cost of living, regardless of their current or future income, resources, household or employment status.
For the duration of the exhibition Lloyd will be in the gallery space, painting the following questions on to the wall by hand.
- What did you want to be when you were growing up?
- What gets you out of bed in the morning?
- What would you do if you had a year off?
Visitors will be invited to respond to the questions and to discuss their answers with him as he works in the gallery. Alongside this visitors can take away a Risograph poster which has the three questions on one side and a short essay on the reverse. The exhibition will also host a series of events including discussion based workshops, a formal talk, a musical performance and a film screening.
The amount of time it takes me to complete the paintings will be recorded each day and displayed as part of the exhibition. The hours will be translated into a monetary sum using the minimum wage and living wage to calculate the cost. This information will be used to create a time/value scale and question if more could have been achieved in this time or with the money the activity would have cost. For example, the questions could have been printed and installed as vinyl lettering by a local business for x pounds, freeing Lloyd up to do another, potentially more productive activity.
On the final day of the exhibition, Lloyd will paint over the text and return the gallery to the state that he found it in. The time this takes will also be recorded and added to the calculation.
More information and images can be found here.
Events Programme
Basic Income is coming to Scotland – Margaret Gilmour
Tuesday 13th March 6.30pm
The NewBridge Project, Newcastle | Carliol House, Market Street, Newcastle, NE1 6NE
Phillippe Van Parijs, describes Basic Income as “… an income paid unconditionally to individuals regardless of their family or household relationships, regardless of other incomes, and regardless of their past, present, or future employment status.” [1]
This concept has been presented as a possible solution to many of the problems that society faces today, and has gained support from both sides of the political spectrum.
The Scottish government announced in 2017 that it will commit to funding the first Basic Income trials in the UK. Margaret Gilmour’s documentary outlines the arguments for Basic Income and interviews participants taking part in the current trials in Finland.
The screening will be followed by a discussion about the potential benefits or pitfalls if Basic Income was implemented in the North East of England, and which other policies would need to the put in place for it to be successful.
Reclaiming the Future
Monday 19th March, 6:30pm
The NewBridge Project, Gateshead | 232-240 High St, Gateshead NE8 1AQ
“Hard times are coming, when we’ll be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine real grounds for hope.” Ursula K Le Guin
Austerity, climate change and working until we are in are 70’s: are these all inevitable aspects of life or can we escape this dystopian destiny?
This informal round table discussion will explore how more positive images for the future could be made through collective means. Four invited speakers will start a conversation by sharing concepts and ideas that have inspired them. The Audience will then be asked to contribute their own visions of the future and how they could be achieved.
First Performance – Yol / Posset / Lloyd
Saturday 24th March, 3pm
The NewBridge Project : Gateshead : 232-240 High St, Gateshead NE8 1AQ
YOL / POSSET / LLOYD will respond to the material in the gallery that has been gathered over the two weeks of the exhibition using objects, scrap metal, Dictaphones and throats.
This acoustic performance will be followed by a louder, amplified performance at The Old Police House as part of their SWARM#2 event. Full details can be found below.
Second Performance – Yol / Posset / Lloyd at SWARM #2
Saturday 24th March
The Old Police House, West Street, Gateshead, NE8 1AD
For the second performance YOL / POSSET / LLOYD will work with a projected visual score that Lloyd will create using materials and conversations he has with visitors in the gallery.Performance as part of SWARM #2, 3pm – 2am, £10 entry. Click here for full details.
