Louise Ashcroft

 

Southall Rhizome (2009)

Using listings websites and chatrooms, I invited strangers from all over the world to send me site-specific responses to the location of the exhibition space: 'on an industrial estate in Southall, West London'. I was interested in the possibility of making a site-specific response to the space from the imaginary perspectives of people who would never visit the site.

Responses included photographs, maps, play scripts, and even a proposal of marriage! Most of these responses did not relate specifically to the site of the exhibition, but instead promoted the artwork of the sender or attempted to scam me in some way. The process of this experiment was displayed as a live installation and large annotated wall drawing, with print-outs of email conversations alongside the materials received.

In an attempt to link the imaginary space to the real site, connections were made between the material I'd been sent and a collection of objects I had found around the warehouse space. I then extended this process, by inviting site-specific responses from locals and famous people connected to the area, including the Mayor of Ealing, activist Celia Stubbs and author Tim Lott. These local perspectives provided a contrast to the global contributions.