 "Photo: Shawn Dezan")
 "Photo: Shawn Dezan")
 "Photo: Shawn Dezan")
 "Photo: Shawn Dezan")
 "Photo: Shawn Dezan")
LONDON -- Walking up to The Market Estate Project, I noticed a man hanging off the side of the building.
A black curtain was the only thing supporting his existence, coming out of the top window of the tower block closest to the entrance. In the name of art, this man had volunteered to hang still from the side of the building for the eight hours the project was open.
Such is the dedication of local British artists to this project.
Southern Housing Group ran the Market Estate in Islington since its successful beginnings in the 1960s. It is one of the largest housing associations in southeast England and teamed up with the arts regeneration practice, Tall Tales, to help transform the building into a creative celebration, a colourful and rich final memory of the estate.
The last of residents moved out only a few days before I found myself passing through the gates of this complex. This transition from home to show seemed to happen overnight, and what was once a private space was open for public viewing.
With the bulldozers practically revving their engines, this past Saturday saw hundreds of visitors pass through the corridors of the Market Estate admiring the work of the 75 artists who came from a wide range of disciplines. These artists developed brand new site-specific works in 21 of the vacant flats. From the corridors, to the staircases, handrails, courtyards, toilets, kitchens, bedrooms, sofas, drawers, ceilings, sinks, and closets – in most cases, nothing was left untouched.
Yet some artists took the exact opposite approach when playing with the concept of home. By leaving some of the rooms as they were found, the artists created a distinct eerie vibe in certain flats.
It wasn’t hard to tell when you entered a flat where people had once lived; they had so recently moved out that you could still smell them. The toys scattered across the floor, the photo of mother and child left perched on the shelf, or the dress shirt still hanging in the closet enforced the reality that this show was a home only a few days earlier.
The flat with most personal impact paid tribute to the Market Estate’s oldest resident, 87-year-old Jimmy Watts. Through experiments with memory, Clarisse d’Arcimoles captured Watts’ story in pictures, words, and video by having Watts narrate a compilation of home videos he had taken during the 1960s and 70s. His story is unique, yet so similar to many of the Market Estate’s former residents. What was most interesting is the fact that the memories of Watts will not only continue to exist through this work, but also in the memories of all who entered the flat, myself included.
Most of the installations will go down with the building next week. The Market Estate is being destroyed to make room for a more modern housing unit. Much like street art in its temporal sensitivity, the Market Estate Project played with concepts of memory, home, family, and existence through works that commemorate different aspects of life there that are now impossible to relive.
Shawn Dezan is a Concordia Journalism student on a three-month modeling contract in London, England.
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