“Cities are multitemporal. The remains of the past are all around us: architecture survives” ((Pearson, Mike and Michael Shanks (2001) Theatre/ Archaeology, London and New York: Routledge.)).
The Grand Stand is in a rundown condition. The stand was last used for its original purpose in 1964 when it closed down and moved to Doncaster; the stand has remained, however the purpose has changed. Some “buildings are repaired, their function changes: a chapel becomes a disco. Their identity is unstable” ((Pearson, Mike and Michael Shanks (2001) Theatre/ Archaeology, London and New York: Routledge.)). With our project we are trying to restore the plotting of the two other stands: the real Grandstand and the Silver Ring stand, as well as reflecting on its past to create ideas for what it could become.
There are an infinite amount of possibilities of what might be; the grandstand has a limitless amount of future potential. We want to re-plot the other two original stands from 1896, when they were first built. This restoration project shows how “cities are multitemporal. The remains of the past are all around us: architecture survives” ((Pearson, Mike and Michael Shanks (2001) Theatre/ Archaeology, London and New York: Routledge.)). Bernard Tschumi sees architecture as “the combination of spaces, events and movements” ((Turner, Cathy (2010) “Mis-Guidance and Spatial Planning: Dramaturgies of Public Space” Contemporary Theatre Review, Vol. 20(2), PP. 149–161.)). By recreating the plots for the other two stands we are able to re-imagine the events that took place within the space. This shows how the memories of the walls were lost to history – after they had been demolished, the memories that once resided in that place are merely ghosts. To recreate the stands we will be using horse hair twine, this incorporates horses of which have played a major part in the races and are still a prominent feature on the West Common in Lincoln. The idea to recreate all three stands came about after seeing a picture from back when the races were happening.
The picture shows (from left to right) what we call currently the grandstand which is in fact called Tattersall’s Stand, then the actual Grandstand and finally the Silver Ring Stand. We wanted to recreate the size of the stands to put it into perspective for the audience to see how big the structures were but also the importance the race course had within the city. Perhaps by seeing the scale it would show the audience how much has been lost by the demolition and the impact it had on society after it was so busy and animated to now: lifeless.
As we take the audience on a journey which ends at our construction of stands, we will be entwining the history to the site in order to create a future for the Grand Stand. Similar to Reckless Sleepers project ‘The Last Supper’ which they created in 2003 where they invited an audience to dine with them whilst they told “and then eat the last words of… criminals… thirteen of these are last suppers” ((Reckless Sleepers, 2013. The Last Supper. [online] Available at: <http://www.reckless-sleepers.co.uk/project.php?id=7> [Accessed 21 April 2013 ].)); we have taken ideas from people in the community as to what they think could become of the Grand Stand.
((The Reckless Sleepers, 2013. The Last Supper. [picture] Avaliable at: <http://www.reckless-sleepers.co.uk/project.php?id=7> [Accessed: 13th May 2013]))
What Reckless Sleepers achieved from bringing back memories of criminals who were on death row and giving back their voices or requests. We have re-created this by allowing the audience to give us feedback for future uses of the stand and then taking the other two plotted stands into the city and so that the whole city can see the suggestions of people in the community. We want to incorporate these suggestions with the plotted stands made from twine – this links the past, present and future of the Grand Stand. During the performance we invite the audience around the Weighing room and outside to look around, learn some of its historical context and then make an informed decision as to what they believe the Grand Stand could become. While the audience thinks about what they have seen they will be able to walk around our map where we will be securing other people’s contributions to the twine. For these ideas to be written on we have acquired betting slips. This not only ties in with the gambling which happened at the race course but also the uncertainty of the future which is like a bet in the sense that the outcome is uncertain.