Outside the ICA

Outside the Ikon Gallery

The Long and Winding Road
Saturday 2nd June, 11am – 5pm

Ikon are pleased to be hosting Michael Pinchbeck’s project ‘The Long and Winding Road’. Commissioned by the Fierce Youth Panel as part of the 2007 Fierce Festival, this graffiti covered car will travel around Birmingham for two weeks before arriving outside Ikon on 2nd June. Visitors are invited to experience the project by sitting in the car with the artist.

Take it to the bridge

A Scar History

The Long and Winding Road goes to Birmingham in June as a Youth Panel commission for the Fierce! Festival 2007. The Youth Panel is a Fierce! Festival project supported by Creative Partnerships and Ikon Gallery. Below is the project proposal - A Scar History.


It started with a letter. On 17 May 2004 I was going to post a letter into the river Mersey. My brother went on a ferry across the Mersey and dropped a camera into the river, he told me so in a letter. A letter which arrived the day after he died. The letter I wrote became a parcel as I started to realise I wanted to send him things as well as words. The parcel became a suitcase, the suitcase became a trunk, the trunk became a car. There are too many things, his things that I unpacked when he died. Things he gave to me that I only keep to make me sad. Birthday presents. Christmas presents. Things that represent stories I hadn’t been able to tell him. Birthday presents. Christmas presents I hadn’t been able to give him. Everything until now. Packed in a car.

The Long and Winding Road began on the 17 May 2004 when live artist Michael Pinchbeck started a journey in a graffiti covered car from Nottingham to Liverpool. The car was packed with 365 mementoes wrapped up in brown paper and string. Each item has a registration number – like a car. The project lasts until 17 May 2008 when the artist will drive the car into the River Mersey.

The mementoes in the car are items that belonged to the artist's brother who died in an accident in Liverpool on 17 May 1998. Michael travelled to Liverpool where his brother had been a student to pack a car with his things. The Long and Winding Road is an attempt to take the things back. It is the intention to exhibit the project in galleries and garages between Nottingham and Liverpool on 17 May every year.

The artist has exhibited a film (2005), an installation (2006) and will create a performance to take place on 17 May 2007 at the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham as part of Fierce! There is potential to link up with local artists for graffiti workshops and invite gallery visitors to wrap up their own mementoes to pack in the car.

The objects spill from the boot. Log books, photo albums and maps litter the dashboard. Slides beam from the headlights. Visitors are invited one at a time to join the artist in the car for a personal car history. The artist offers passengers a travel sweet before showing the film of The Long and Winding Road and sharing the reason for the journey in a one-on-one performance.

This performance is called The Long and Winding Road – A Scar History. Scars are stories. Stories on your skin. Each of the scars on Michael’s body is linked to the car or to the cause of his brother’s death – falling. By taking passengers on a tour of his scars in the car, Michael uses the physical traces of trauma as a metaphor for the emotional scars that a personal loss leaves behind. He addresses guests via the rear view mirror and tells stories. Sad stories. Happy stories. The story of the project so far. A scar history. A car history.

The Inspiration

The long and winding road
That leads to your door
Will never disappear
I’ve seen that road before
It always leads me here
Lead me to you door

The wild and windy night
That the rain washed away
Has left a pool of tears
Crying for the day
Why leave me standing here
Let me know the way

Many times I’ve been alone
And many times I’ve cried
Any way you’ll never know
The many ways I’ve tried

But still they lead me back
To the long winding road
You left me standing here
A long long time ago
Don’t leave me waiting here
Lead me to your door

But still they lead me back
To the long winding road
You left me standing here
A long long time ago
Don’t leave me waiting here
Lead me to your door
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

The Installation

Review of The Long and Winding Road Installation

Michael Pinchbeck’s piece seemed the flagship of the show with a collection of catalogued parcels that had belonged to his brother. The piece was a detailed arrangement of a portion of a larger piece know as The Long and Winding Road, a performance in which the parcels and the car that belonged to his brother would be driven into a river at the end of a journey, both physical and metaphorical. The piece was presented in a sans self-conscious way and with a comfortable maturity. Several other pieces resonated with maturity as well, but primarily with a materiality.

Neil Gardner Ward
26 June 2006

Two of us

Two of us riding nowhere
Spending someone’s
Hard earned pay
Two of us sunday driving
Not arriving
On our way back home
We’re on our way home
We’re on our way home
We’re going home

Two of us sending postcards
Writing letters
On my wall
You and me burning matches
Lifting latches
On our way back home
We’re on our way home
We’re on our way home
We’re going home

You and I have memories
Longer than the road that stretches out ahead

Two of us wearing raincoats
Standing so low
In the sun
You and me chasing paper
Getting nowhere
On our way back home
We’re on our way home
We’re on our way home
We’re going home

You and I have memories
Longer than the road that stretches out ahead

Two of us wearing raincoats
Standing so low
In the sun
You and me chasing paper
Getting nowhere
On our way back home
We’re on our way home
We’re on our way home
We’re going home

We’re going home

Le Pont Mirabeau

Le Pont Mirabeau

Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine
Et nos amours
Faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne
La joie venait toujours après la peine

Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure

Les mains dans les mains restons face à face
Tandis que sous
Le pont de nos bras passe
Des éternels regards l'onde si lasse

Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure

L'amour s'en va comme cette eau courante
L'amour s'en va
Comme la vie est lente
Et comme l'Espérance est violente

Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure

Passent les jours et passent les semaines
Ni temps passé
Ni les amours reviennent
Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine

Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880 - 1918)

Mirabeau bridge

Neath Mirabeau Bridge flows the Seine
and our love; Must I remember?
Joy always followed pain
Nights, hours,
Days go by yet I remain.

Love flows away like this running water,
Love abandons me.
How life is slow
And I am violated by Hope.
Nights, hours,
Days go by yet I remain.

The days and weeks go by
Nor time
Nor love returns.
‘Neath Mirabeau Bridge flows the Seine
Nights, hours,
Days go by yet I remain.

In Absentia

I have been refecting on how The Long and Winding Road connects with the themes of absence and presence. There is a sense of absence as loss. Absence as sadness. Absence as grief. The objects have become devoid of recognisable shape or function in a bid to objectify emotion. Absent of meaning. The car appears abandoned with no explanation of why or how it came to be there, in that colour with those contents. Absent of narrative. The film humanises the journey with the presence of a driver but there is no sense of his being present in the car. Only the detritus of the project so far - of places the car has been, the driver has seen. The car is an ark. An arc. An archive. A carchive. A cathartic icon. A secular relic. A vehicle for the baggage of loss. A memorial to someone's absence. A celebration of someone's presence. A eulogy for recovery. A souvenir of self-discovery. There is the sensation of presence when visitors take a seat in the car. Sucking a travel sweet amidst the mildew of two years of storage, their physical presence animates the objects wrapped up in brown paper and string. Their leafing through maps and diaries makes the journey tangible. Their listening to the songs and lists of items makes the details audible. Their flicking through photo albums makes the journey visible. Their view from the car parked at 27 Degrees North West pointing in the direction of Liverpool places them firmly on The Long and Winding Road. Only when the presence converges with the absence does the project begin to make sense.

The Reason

The reason. I never know whether the reason is as important as the act – I also know that on telling people the reason they either understand or dismiss it as catharsis not art. Not that the two are mutually exclusive. I always tell them a painter paints someone they’ve loved and lost. A songwriter writes a song about someone they’ve loved and lost. And what about Calendar Girls and sponsored walks. Are people who run a marathon for someone they’ve loved and lost insane. As an artist you can use whatever means you can to celebrate and commemorate someone you’ve loved and lost. I loved my brother. And on 17th May 1998 he fell down some stairs in Liverpool and broke his neck. He was 20. There were 13 steps. I travelled to Liverpool with my parents to pack a car with his things. When we got back to Nottingham I unpacked the car and set everything up in his room as he would have done. As if he – not his things – had come home. Over the years the room has evolved but his things and the memories remain, scattered around the house. One morning in 2004 I woke up to realise I wasn’t angry any more. I didn’t understand. I never will. Death like life is an accident waiting to happen. I realised I wanted to turn it into a happy accident. To turn horror into colour. To drive to survive. To laugh at the sadness.

It started with a letter. On 17 May 2004 I was going to post a letter into the river Mersey, My brother went on a ferry across the Mersey and dropped a camera into the river, He told me so in a letter, A letter that would arrive the day after he died. Such is Royal Mail. The letter I wrote became a parcel as I started to realise I wanted to send him things as well as words. The parcel became a suitcase, The suitcase became a trunk. The trunk became a car. There are too many things, His things that I unpacked when he died. Things he gave to me that I only keep to make me sad, Birthday presents. Christmas presents. Then things that represent stories I hadn’t been able to tell him. Birthday presents. Christmas presents. That I hadn’t been able to give him. Everything until now.

The River Trent. When he lived we went to see Nottingham Forest together. When they were good. We went to Trent Bridge to watch the cricket. These were happy times. So happy that his ashes were scattered there. On the cricket pitch. I see him when I go there. I see him when the cricket is on television. And when I sit – watching cricket – I feel the closest to him I can be. There is no grave, There is only grass. And I feel happy. Trent Bridge is also a place from which I have considered throwing myself when I miss him and everything he meant. The water. Represents the flow. The current of information and emotion I still feel. The pilgrimage I’m still making. The cleansing. The purification that perhaps this catharsis is. The calming, The remembrance that if anything life goes on.

The proposal. I propose to park the car on the edge of a jetty beneath Lady Bay Bridge. The boot is open. The items arranged in a Long and Winding Road from the boot etc. And maybe – if we can – drive the car into this river – to anoint the car and begin again.

A Car History

SENT TO STEERING COMMITTEE 17 SEPTEMBER 2006:

Dear Steering Committee,

Buckle up. Check your mirror. Signal. Manoeuvre. It's another update from The Long and Winding Road. Following a summer pitstop at Nottingham's Surface Gallery where it was described by METRO as 'audacious' the project shifts up a gear. Hold on to your door handle.

I spent last week haggling with scrap heaps in Hucknall, changing wheels in the rain and hoovering up the detritus of two years of neglect and a small colony of field mice. In the car I found; four rusty exhaust pipes, part of a tree, a traffic cone, a slab of concrete, a To Let sign, a stolen metro-boulot-dodo T-shirt, five pairs of gloves, two coats I forgot I owned and, for some reason, a teaspoon. I didn't find any field mice. I charged the battery and swept out the boot. I tested the cassette player with a Boyzone tape. Thankfully it didn't play. The car is now ready for the next adventure. And so am I. Are you Steering Committee? If not - please reply to this email with 'Unsubscribe' in the title. If so - read on.

The Long and Winding Road - A Car History takes to the road again for an appearance at Hinterland - a collection of site specific artists' projects along the banks of the River Trent in Nottingham. The car, the items and a film of the project so far will be on show under Lady Bay Bridge on Friday 28 September and Sunday 1 October. For times, locations and information go to www.hinterlandprojects.com . I hope you can join me for a travel sweet.

From Tuesday 19 September to Sunday 1 October 2006, Hinterland will provide a temporary site for artists to explore themes of neighbourhood, territory, peripheral space and the dialogue between town, country and suburbia. Hinterland provides ways for artists to examine how the actual and imaginary landscape can converge within an artwork or research.

Hinterland is supported by Arts Council England, Nottingham Trent University, The Bonington Gallery and Future Factory. The Long and Winding Road is supported by Nottingham Trent University, Vent Media and Trampoline.

Thanks for joining me on the journey so far. 2006 is the year of the car. Safe driving Steering Committee. See you on The Long and Winding Road.

Best

Michael
Driver

Registration

SENT TO STEERING COMMITTEE 6 JUNE 2006:

Fellow driver

Two years ago you expressed an interest in joining the Steering Committee for The Long and Winding Road. Thank you. As the project lasts for four years I didn't want to bombard you with emails so I thought I'd wait until the halfway point. Here it is.

The road has been decidedly Long and Winding. The car's been broken into, broken down, run out of petrol, ticketed, towed home, honked at, laughed at and pointed at. We were chastised by Traffic Wardens in Buxton, vandalised by child actors in Manchester, moonied by students in Nottingham and used as a toilet in Tamworth before finally blowing up in Birmingham.

And that was all in the first six months. The head gasket's gone. The tyes are flat. The battery's dead. There are birds nesting in the glovebox. The car's out of tax and out of MOT. But it's done its job. Now it's time for me to do mine. And you to do yours. If you still want to drive. If not - please reply to this email with 'Unsubscribe' in the title. If so - read on.

Following a showing of project footage in Nottingham, Dartington and Erlangen in 2004 and a period of MSM - mirror signal manoeuvre-style reflection in 2005 another phase of the project is unfolding. The Long and Winding Road - Registration. The objects that were wrapped up, tagged and logged and packed in the car on 17 May 2004 are on show in Nottingham now. Itemised is an exhibition by NTU's MA students at the Surface Gallery until Saturday. The show launches tonight from 6.30pm. Join us if you can.

Following Registration - the car and the objects will be reunited for a guest appearance at Hinterland - a new Nottingham festival along the River Trent later in the year. I'll be inviting you to join me for a travel sweet and a personal tour of the car. If you're still a member of the Steering Committee you'll get updates nearer the time. If not - thanks for joining me on the journey so far. 2006 is the year of the car. Safe driving Steering Committee. See you on The Long and Winding Road.

Best

Michael
Driver

The Concept

The Long and Winding Road began on the 17 May 2004 when drive artist Michael Pinchbeck embarked on a journey in a graffiti covered car from Nottingham to Liverpool. The car was painted by graffiti artist Rikki Marr in a field in Derbyshire. The car was packed with 350 mementoes wrapped up in brown paper and string. The painting, the packing and the driving of the car was filmed by Kevin Edwards.

Each item was given a registration number – like a car – e.g. R350 ACH – R – 1998 – the year the project was accidentally conceived, 350th to be packed and ACH – A Car History – CH also being the DVLA suffix for a car registered in and around Nottingham and Derby. The project will last until 17 May 2008 when the car will reach its final resting place in the river Mersey.

The mementoes in the car are items that belonged to the artist's brother who died in an accident in 1998. Michael travelled to Liverpool where his brother had been a student, to pack a car with his things. The Long and Winding Road is a memorial by the artist to his brother. It is Michael's intention to exhibit the project in galleries and garages between Nottingham and Liverpool.

The objects will spill from the boot. Log books, photo albums and maps of the journey so far will litter the dashboard. Audience members will be invited, three at a time, to join the artist in the car for a personal car history. The artist will offer passengers a travel sweet before introducing a film of The Long and Winding Road and sharing the reason for the journey. Passengers will be invited to join the project steering committee.

Join us on the journey of a drivetime - email info@blurbgarden.com