Exhibition Opening

Tuesday night saw the opening of Raw Material at the Airspace Gallery, the final installment in the Place Space Identity Programme of 2007-2008 and closure to our work on the project. Thanks to all those who came, we truly appreciated your support and hope to see you again soon. Entertainment was provided by DJs Steve Boulton & James Moulden and friend and poet George Chopping. A big thanks also to Airspace's David Bethell, Andy Branscombe & Glen Stoker for all their help in putting the show together. Finally, we want to thank Susan and Hilary at B Arts for managing the programme and to Kathy James at Arts Council England West Midland for making it all happen. If you'd like to keep up to date with our other projects you can visit our website or simply get in touch. Thanks for watching!

A great time was had by all.

Interviews with four CLAY participants

LL - Liz Lock
MH - Mishka Henner

Ben, 28

Ben: In anything to do with creative practice, everyone can feel that something good's happening to the city. From music to the arts, theatre, films, people are actually going, "hey, this is good." Whereas before my mum would've said, "why don't you go to Liverpool, why not Manchester? There's loads happening there." Well, I want to be here when it kicks off and I think it's going to happen.
MH: How would you describe what's happening here?
Ben: I'm excited about it and would describe it as having a ticket to go on a roller coaster, but I don't know where it's going. It feels like we're going up that uphill incline, it's that kind of excitement. It might be over dead quick, it might be long.
MH: Do you think the landscape of Stoke has anything to do with that?
Ben: The fact that it's six towns is one of the reasons why I've stayed here. But I also think it's stunted the chance of this place going ballistic in terms of the arts. I feel it's where Manchester was 20 years ago in terms of employment levels, aspirations, opportunities. And out of that you get really gritty poets, songwriters, bands and artists.
MH: How would you describe the work that people are producing here?
Ben: There's two ends to it, you've got the uplifting, positive promotion of good things happening here which is exactly what this play is all about, then there's people who sing about the glum streets of Burslem with no future. But it has got a future, it's just about finding those juicy tangible bits that people can get their teeth into.
MH: What are those tangibles?
Ben: The city has a tendency to hemorrhage talent. People will come in, get skilled up, then leave for Manchester or Birmingham. For the people who actually live here, having grown up on these streets with parents who worked down the pot banks, there's that cycle of never asking for stuff or expecting anything, never striving for stuff. And that's starting to change with the people living here. They're starting to come around now, saying "well actually, Manchester's got this, we want this. Birmingham's got this, we want this. Let's not have it all in London, we want this."
MH: What is that thing that people want?

Ben: I think they're proud of where they live, but they want to be able to be proud today of where they're from. I think it's a sense of pride and also, they just want someone to say, "it's okay." They want to be able to say, "this is what I want."

Binyam (Jordan), 17. From Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Jordan: I play basketball and they call me Jordan so I like to be called that. I live in Hanley. I've only been in the UK for six months. Before I was in Ethiopia. There it's ten months sunshine and two months rain. Here it's the other way around.
MH: What's Stoke like compared to Ethiopia? It must be very different.
Jordan: It's colder here than in Ethiopia! But in Ethiopia right now, everything is changing. There is this thing now that they are building called a condominium. There's a lot of building happening everywhere you look. They used to be a poor country but now they are developing.
MH: Are people different here to your home country?
Jordan: There is something here which I find hard to believe. If you see an eleven year old girl with a boyfriend, I don't appreciate that. It's not the time to think about boyfriends at that age. In my country, you have to get a boyfriend or girlfriend after 18. You can have a chat, but not sex. The main reason I think you have this problem here is because it's a rich country, and the families never control their children.
MH: How do you know that England is a rich country?
Binyam: If you go to London or Manchester, you see a lot of things that you know make people rich. Like cars, or buildings, even the money is much higher here than everywhere else in the world.

Imar, 17. From Ghazni, Afghanistan

MH: How different is Stoke to Afghanistan?

Imar: Really different actually.
MH: Really!
Imar: The houses, the cars, people.
MH: How are people here?
Imar: The people are friendly here, everything's cool.
MH: How's the food here?
Imar: Lots of sandwiches, salad, and kebabs. In Afghanistan we have a lot of meat, and kebabs, with really good rice.
MH: What are the houses like in Afghanistan?
Imar: Really different, in Afghanistan people make the houses with their hands. Here they're made by machines and very stylish. There's no stylish in Afghanistan.
LL: Have you been to other places in England?
Imar: I've been to Bimingham and Manchester. There are lots of big buildings and shopping complexes in those cities, lots of crowds and people, it's quite different.
MH: What do you do in the evenings here?
Imar: Sometimes I go out but not very often. I need permission from my father or brother to go out. In Afghanistan it's a free country I can go out at anytime. But here if you don't speak good English people want to fight with you.

Omran, 17. From Balochistan, Iran

Omran: Everything is different here. The weather, city centre, people, everything.
MH: What are the main differences?
Omran: Everything!
LL: Is anything the same?
Omran: No, I don't think so.
MH: What about the food?
Omran: It's very good here.
MH: I don't believe you!
Omran: Here all the food is in freezers. In Iran you could buy fresh, that's different.
MH: What do you like to eat here?
Omran: I like the chips. They're ready made, you just put them in the oven and they're ready. You don't have to chop everything up like in Iran.
MH: What are people like here?
Omran: People are very good, when you talk to them they're very nice.
MH: Did you ever do anything artistic in Iran?
Omran: No, nothing at all. I like the dancing here, I love the dancing.
LL: What do you think of the landscape here? How is housing different to Iran?
Omran: Here they are all next to each other. In Iran one house is here and another one over there.
MH: Do you like that people here go out a lot?
Omran: Here people can drink alcohol because they get enough money to buy that. They get paid every day but in Iran people don't get paid for months so they can't go outside until they get paid so they have to go home and alcohol is very expensive there.

There's No Place Like Home

Interviews with the cast of the New Vic Theatre's production of the Wizard of Oz, which ran from the 26 November 2007 until the 19 January 2008. More information about the production here.

Sheryl / Dorothy

"I'm from Fife in Scotland. Stoke is very, very grey and dull and not magical like the Emerald City. The Emerald City is very green and 'wow' and Stoke is very grey and rubbish. I've been living in someone else's house here, I'm used to living in London so it's quite different, it's very quiet."

Alastair / The Cowardly Lion

"I'm based in London but originally from Yorkshire. When I first came here I was really confused because I expected one big city, but there are about five or six separate towns and potteries." How is it different to the Emerald City? "Well, you don't see many lions and tin men running around here."

Stephen / Tinman

"There's lots of things to do here, everyone's really happy. I've seen a lot of films here - I've seen everything going - you can ask me any question about a film. From the outset, it's a little bit dull here but once you go round the potteries and you see all these amazing potteries and stuff, you realize it's got a lot going for it. It's not as hip and happening as London but that's the way the cookie crumbles."

William / Scarecrow

"I've been working here for two and a half months, I like working here because the theater is incredible. We haven't got out much, it's very quiet here, everything seems to close by about 8 o'clock. You know you're in Stoke because of the monkey forest. It's a facility run by monkeys for monkeys. It's about 2 miles out, I really enjoyed that. You've got a lot of countryside around but I've been here in the winter so it's quite dreary, and wet. You don't see nearly as much dancing in the streets as you do in the Emerald City and you have a lot more Thai restaurants in Newcastle and a lot more hairdressers too."

Wrestlers at Ravenside Retail Park

On Sunday, we joined Gavin, Brian and Tom at Fitness First to witness them filming wrestlers in training using a 3D camera. More information about their exploits here. During the filming, we talked to the wrestlers about their work and hobbies, and took their portraits:

"Wrestling is a form of art, everything that you do is crafted. But if somebody gets hurt we don't call it art, we call it a mistake. I'm from Longton, I'd say it's a nice place to be, I'd say it's just right, but I don't like the traffic in the morning when I try and get to university. I'm thinking about starting a computer business when I leave uni, building them, fixing them, all that sort of stuff." Kyle, 21. Computer student (above).

"I'm a full-time father of two girls, so this is my release. You know how you use your camera as an expression of art? Well we use moves and our physique as our expression of art. It's so good it's like sex. You get slammed and it hurts but it feels good. You sit there saying 'I want another one. Please, do it again'. Every bump you take you just get up and do it again. you don't want it to end. If I pick you up for a power slam, people think 'oh, he just likes grabbing men - he's gay', but if somebody actually got into the ring and let me do a power bomb to them they'd look at it in a completely different way. If we don't land them right, it's gonna hurt." Jason, 23. Father of two (above).

"Wrestling is everything to me - I think about it 24/7. When I'm at work I'm thinking wrestling, I'm thinking what new costume can I wear, what new music can I come in to, what new moves can I do. It's always on my mind. When I see someone playing games I think how can I interpret that into something? It's life. You can actually take doorwork and wrestling and put them together. When I've been on the doors I've actually had to use wrestling moves to get people out. It's great to be able to combine them."

Would you say it was an art?
"It is - you can express yourself in a weird way. Other people see it as mindless violence. I've always loved drama, I used to want to get into stunt work and I found the best way to do it was through wrestling. I can act and I can do my stunt work at the same time and have fun with it." Dave, 23. Doorman (above).

"It's like drawing a picture, you've got to tell the audience a story when you wrestle. We buy these outfits off ebay, most of them come from America. They don't make them in Stoke as far as I know. The trousers cost about £30, and the shoes are £30 too. I used to live in Manchester but it's a lot better in Stoke. Manchester's rough, it's all guns and knives which is just not for me. It's normal here." Dave, 18. Sports Science student (above).

Louise Wood Coalville Workshop

Last night, Louise Wood held clay workshops with a group of Coalville residents at the Tenants and Residents Association Centre. See here for details of upcoming workshops in Coalville.

Despite a busy schedule, Louise was kind enough to allow us to photograph portraits of the participants and interview them about their lives in Coalville and their experiences of regeneration.

Left to right: Kyle, Chloe and Lewis

"I live with my sister in a care home. I love it there, I have my own bed. I like food, supper and tea. My dream house has a garden. I'd pick leaves up and put them in a bag. I'd cook my tea and wash up, have my own bed. Cozy bed. Big windows with big lights." Sharon.

"I've lived here half my life but I don't know where I was before then. I get peace and quiet because there's no children on my street, kids make too much noise. Everyone on my estate is going to have to move because we're having our houses knocked down because the builders are building a park thing. I'm not looking forward to it because I don't know where I'm going to live. I don't like my house because the builders are getting rid of the old house behind my house and all the mud keeps coming in our backyard and the dog keeps escaping. And it's noisy." Chantelle, 9 years old.

"I've lived in about four houses. I just keep moving. We moved off the estate, we lived on the estate, moved off, moved back on and then moved house because they weren't very good. I live at the bottom but there's no point spending any money on it because they're knocking it down to make the estate better. They give you application forms then a police check, and if they're all good, they'll think about giving you a house. I like it here because all my mates are here. It wouldn't feel right if you went anywhere else because you'd have to find loads of new mates again." What does regeneration mean to you? "It's where they destroy everything and make it again." Jack, 13 years old.

Matthew, Sunshine Cafe

"I hope they do develop this land because I want to attract more customers to the area, I want the whole area to look nice because it's not very attractive for the cafe with all the rubbish about, it's not a pretty sight to look at when you walk down the street. We do get quite a lot of customers but sometimes it goes a bit dead. I'm hoping that if they do something with it it'll be thriving." Matthew, Kitchen Assistant at the Sunshine Cafe.

Andy, AirSpace

"They say that Stoke's fifteen years behind everywhere else. The pottery industries did keep going for a long time after industries in other cities died out. It's only in the last ten to fifteen years that the pottery industry's died. Some of the attitudes of people, it's a strange mindset in Stoke, especially with the five to six towns that are here. Everyone thinks their town is the best instead of working together. Hopefully one day it'll be better." Andy, Director of AirSpace Gallery