Gavin_peacock

21st till 27th May 2006
Gavin Peacock at the Centre for Suburban Research
I first met Gavin while in Hull at an event organised by The Independent Art School. In 2005 I received an invitation from Gavin to take part in an event called 'finetuned' which Gavin was co-curating in Brighton. While in Brighton I became good friends with Gavin, and knowing what kind of work he made, Meabh and I decided to invite him to make a proposal to under take a Residency at the Centre for Suburban Research.
Gavin's proposal to the Centre for Suburban Research was essentially the archetypal 'what I did on my holidays' kids school project, except Gavin's project was to be 'what I did on my artists residency'. gavin Proposed that everyday he would leave the Centre for Suburban research and go and explore Belfast, a city he has never visited before. At the end of each days exploring Gavin proposed to post an envelope to the Centre of Suburban Research containing:
*A map showing his daily movements
*Some written material outlining his activities
*Photographs of things he saw that he found interesting
*Any other things he picked up during his explorations

Gavin's proposal to the Centre for Suburban Research came as a piece of mail art. One morning I went to pick up the mail And there was an A5 size map printed on card. the map had a a black line weaving its way through streets. At certain points along the line there were numbers. On the side of the map was a list of corresponding numbers and some little ssentences describing what Gavin had done at these point on the map. On the back of the card was an envelope compartment. The back side of the modified post card, as well as having royal mail stamps, also had 'the Man from Icon' stamps on it. This is Gavin's mail art identity.
When I opened the attached envelope it contained several polaroid photographs and a written proposal outlining Gavin's 'What I did on my residency' idea. What I really liked about what I had just received was that it made visible its journey from when Gavin decided to make it, to it's route through Brighton, then onwards after it left Gavin, till it arrived with me on my doorstep. Meabh, Luke and I really liked Gavin's proposal because it was funny and playful yet it was also demonstrated Gavin's relationship To brighton on the day he made and posted the proposal. We felt his way of working would suit our curatorial agenda with the Centre for Suburban Research and decided to offer him a residency.

Gavin's Residency
Each day Gavin left the Centre for Suburban Research, somewhere between 9:00AM and 12:00PM. Depending at what time he left Gavin would return anywhere between 3:00PM and 6:00PM. During the day Gavin did exactly what he proposed, and so after his 1st day out in Belfast we began receiving parcels from him. Links to the documents Gavin sent to the Centre for Suburban Research are available on the left side of this page.
In the evenings when Gavin came home we would all have dinner together and sit around discussing what we had been up to and what ever seemed to be going on in the world at the time. Gavin was a really easy guest to have. He's a nice man, and so it is never a strain to be in his company. This meant he fitted in really well to life in the house during his stay.