Art in Context

In January 2002 Chris Helson and Sarah Jackets were commissioned by Stirling Council to make a new public artwork within the village of Fallin.

The following text is taken from their application.

'Approach to research and design development.

In order to get a clearer understanding of the context we visited Fallin for a day in early December and met, talked with and filmed members of two of the communities largest families. We have edited the footage into a short film, Mine, enclosed with this application.

Our visit gave us an brief insight of the place, people, histories and current issues within Fallin, and importantly one lady offered to introduce us to people who had been involved in particular events, work or places within Fallin, this helped to give us a starting point for the research and design development.

Our idea is to make four or five short video films 'being shown around'. We have included with this application a short video made by Sarah called The Bar Man in which a man standing in a large garden explaining his plans to build a bar on the site and what this means to him. This film shows quite well the approach and structure we hope to use to begin our research in Fallin.

The films in Fallin may, for example, allow someone to stand at the gap in the road, (where the new housing scheme and the main estate, although adjoining, are blocked off to one another by road), and look anew at the place and what has been created by the making of the space. In another film we might be shown around the route of the Gala Day, how important it was and what it meant to the community and why it's no longer happening. Another film may show where the mines were, someone standing on the sites, rebuilding the space with their movement. Other films the viewer could be shown around the Miners Welfare Social Club or the houses, streets and stories of the family groups. The finished films could be screened for example in the Miners Welfare Social Club. We also plan to create a temporary open workshop, inviting the community to see the research films and to talk through with us initial ideas.

This approach, we feel, would allow us a much greater understanding of Fallin as a community and a place, and develop an open and honest working relationship with the people of Fallin. At this stage we would spend an intensive period of time living and working in Fallin, continuing the collaborative process, exploring the forms and ideas revealed through the making of the films and undertaking technical research as required to develop the project.'