Art in the Redcliffe Bridge Control Room

Chances are you’ll have walked past it dozens, maybe hundreds of times (on the way to and from work, Temple Meads…), wondered about its original and its present functions – and, if you happened to be passing on the right day, felt mildly intrigued by some arty goings-on inside.

Well, the next few weeks will be as good an opportunity as you’ll get to see inside the Control Room, the cabin that once housed the controls for operating the Redcliffe swing bridge. And, while you’re there, you’ll get to sample work by a quartet of promising young artists from our city.

For the past few years, under Bristol City Council’s management, the now-disused Control Room has hosted an intriguing variety of art and film exhibitions and installations. And it’s currently in the midst of its longest and most exciting yet. The space is the setting for a seven-week residency, during which four emerging young artists are each responding to the space – in turn, and finally all together.

From now until the end of the month artists Ella Schofield Lake, Jasmine Thompson, Vivian Barton and Priyanka Meenakshi are using the Control Room as an impromptu artists’ studio, under the aegis of local youth arts enablers Rising Arts Agency. The quartet are producing large-scale illustrations in the space using a variety of different mediums, creating striking images on the windows.

A Bristol-based young-talent incubator, Rising Arts Agency offers professional mentoring and networking, platforms to showcase work, commissioning opportunities and creative leadership training for young people with creative ambitions – particularly for those currently underrepresented in the sector. “Everything we do is developed directly with young people for young people, ensuring that our offer is relevant, accessible and valuable to all those involved,” explains Rising’s Kamina Walton, who has organised the current residency.

“We see the Control Room residency as an opportunity to directly support these aims, and we propose to turn the space into a platform for young people to showcase their talent and creativity. One of the biggest challenges young artists face is finding studio spaces to work in. Whilst the Control Room wouldn’t make an ideal studio, we wanted to take that as inspiration for the project, providing a ‘residency’ for a different artist each week.

Kamina explains how the Redcliffe residency is working. “Each artist has been allocated one week to make their work in their assigned windows, to be developed around the theme, then handing over to the next artist who will make some connection with the previous artist’s work – like a game of consequences. The artwork changes and grows week by week, keeping the audience constantly intrigued and engaged.” The four artists have also taken on the roles of curating, marketing and engagement to ensure a dynamic and youthful programme.

“Given the Control Room’s central location, we aim to give this young artists’ collective the opportunity to display their work to a huge audience in the city,” Kamina concludes. “Hundreds of commuters walk past daily, and we’re excited to offer them a new view of Bristol.”

Visit the residency throughout March at the Control Room, Redcliffe Bridge.

For more info on Rising Arts Agency, visit www.rising.org.uk/control-project

With thanks to the Bristol Arts Development Team for the commission, and for playing a leading role in advocating for the arts across the city.