I have been working on ideas for a project in Chelmsford over the past 3 months with Chelmsford Borough Council and Essex County Council. It is for the redevelopment of Moulsham street, a vibrant independent oasis within a mass of brick weave. Two options are moving slowly forward – street as book - words and phrases collected, created and derived from a wide range of places would be sandblasted into the paving material the words explore, celebrate and challenge the history of the space and its potential. the street is conceived as having ‘booklike’ qualities the words are pages pointing out the history of the street and its wider context within the history of Chelmsford and eventually its place within humanity. the work attempts to explore the connectiveness of this historical moment in time from the global agricultural business that supplies the local shop to the light waves of Colonel Crompton that helped to light the world via the Essex Regiments experience in the Boer War. the words can be read in a nonlinear order so that each time the street is walked a new or different story is read. the process behind reading symbols is that ideas which have been gathered from meetings with user groups and individuals connected with the street, Chelsmford Museum, and Essex record Office have been developed into images which symbolise the experience of and within the street through time. these symbols would create and pose a daily puzzle for pedestrians but each one is linked to an actual event. the idea is that the art is dispersed throughout the street treating the street creating decoration and familiarity but they are also a readable history of the street and the connections that make it the place it is at this moment in time. to integrate art successfully into the Moulsham street scheme and for the work to be successful it has to be flexible and random. the ultimate layout is dependent on the random choices of the pavement layers.
