In response to the invitation to make a presentation about what it was like to live and work as an artist in Plymouth, Low Profile developed a project searching for the lonely artists of Plymouth.
At the time, Plymouth seemed to be a city with an all but invisible arts community. It was difficult to know who the artists were or where to find them. Within this context, we began our investigation into the hidden networks of artists who live or work in the city. We developed a number of questionable, alternative and sometimes quite tongue-in-cheek strategies in order to track down contemporary artists who might be living under the radar in the city.
These strategies included:
- Writing a wanted ad
- Posting ads in lonely hearts columns, newspapers, magazines, forums, newsagents’ windows, Tesco noticeboard, etc
- A stickering campaign
- Holding golf sale signs
- Handing out flyers
- Talking to strangers
- Searching on google
- Asking a policeman
- Looking in the yellow pages
Our presentation tracked our progress in finding, meeting and befriending lonely artists in the city as a way to suggest improvements in the development of the arts community.
As part of our investigation we also decided to convince other artists to move to Plymouth with the following letter:
From: LOW PROFILE lowprofilepresents@hotmail.com
To: our friends
Subject: Please move to Plymouth
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2006 16:48:46 +0000
Dear friends,
We wanted to ask you if you would consider moving to Plymouth.
We may have encouraged you to move before, and if not we’re sorry. Either way, it is clear to us now that we have not made enough effort in making people feel invited and welcomed to our City. So, here we are, asking you if you’d like to move to Plymouth.
It is true, we never really thought we would be living here ourselves, but now it seems we are here to stay. During the year we have both been living in Plymouth, we have fallen for the city - for its underdog nature, its trying to fit in with the others, but always feeling a little left out, its attempts to be seen as beautiful, its efforts to cover up its past, its financial difficulties and working class roots.
Here are 12 reasons why moving to Plymouth is a good idea:
1. there is a new shopping centre which has H&M and Primark
2. there is a lido / outdoor swimming pool that is floodlit at night
3. Plymouth is by the sea
4. Plymouth is close to Cornwall and the rest of Devon
5. Plymouth is close to Dartmoor and other ‘countryside’ places
6. there is a train station, an airport and a ferry port
7. Rachel and Hannah live there and they would be really happy if you moved there because then we could all go to the pub and stuff
8. there is an art centre, museum, library, cinema multiplex and at least 3 theaters
9. you could get a teaching job at the University, the Art College or Dartington and not have to travel too far
10. there is a Hoe and a Barbrican
11. there is a firework competition every summer
12. there is no outlet of GAP, so you won’t end up working there
We hope you are well and find our proposal exciting.
We will let you know how are quest to move artists to Plymouth goes.
xx rachel&hannah
LOW PROFILE