Vote for the next Alfred Arcade Banner

Posted: 23/02/2022

We recently released an open call, inviting artists to submit their ideas for the next Alfred Arcade banner commission. Having received a record number of submissions, we’re pleased to announce we’ve shortlisted the final four and now it’s your turn to vote for your favourite in our public vote launching today.

The winning submission will be installed at the back of the Alfred Arcade on Old Northam Road, overlooking the railway, and will offer a message to locals, commuters and visitors to the city whilst becoming a distinctive landmark for Southampton.

Find out more about our shortlisted artists and submissions by reading on:

 

I SEE YOU TOO by Adam Barnard

I wanted a text that was playful, inclusive and would linger in the mind. As both a parent and someone undergoing therapy, I think a lot about the need to be ‘seen’. The influential psychologist Donald Winnicott, for example, argued that every child needs their authentic self to be witnessed and accepted in order to develop securely. Meanwhile, much current social unrest – but also, potentially, social change – stems from the gulf between those who are seen, and those who feel invisible.

 

MAKE SOMETHING GOOD by Selena Chandler

Looking at past and present images of Old Northam Road and reading about its path from vibrant street to rundown area, to artistic enclave, I thought about the making good that resulted from the saving of the buildings and the opportunities this has created for ‘a space’ and the artists in the area.

Considering commuters reading of the message, particularly a time when reflection on life and its purposes has been foregrounded, it could be encouragement to make good in their work role or to make something good in wider life. This wider reading could also be a suggestion to tourists, encouraging them to make something good of their time in Southampton.

 

LET’S IMAGINE BETTER by Peter Driver

Art happens at the intersection of imagination with the material world. We can’t have a better world, better social policy, richer cultural life, healthier environment, a post-pandemic ‘new normal’, or a City of Culture, without first imagining it. Let’s imagine better.

‘Imagine Better’ was the text for a free woodcut print edition made for the people of Southampton as part of my Imagined Futures installation at K6 Gallery, 2017. This work develops that theme, with the addition of ‘LET’S’ introducing the idea of collaboration and collective endeavour. It hints at what goes on within the Arcade but includes everyone.

 

DO YOU WANT WHAT YOU WANT? by Signe Eliza Pook

The text is influenced by Slavoj Zizek’s ‘Coke’ Analogy as discussed in The Sublime Object of Ideology (1989) (p96), today’s high image and content consumption through social media and other digital material, and its strength to affect realms beyond its own. From your next cup of coffee or more serious commitments, this piece reflects playful communication of consumer and product that are interrupted by a third voice of an outsider, who is at privilege to call out, if you really want the things that you want.

 

The public vote closes on Wednesday 9th March. You can vote for your favourite here

We’ll be announcing the winning submission on Friday 11th March.