What do you do if an intimidating group of people insist on using your front steps as its lively social nest? You don't normally invite them in, that's for sure. But if their visits become so frequent they've nearly moved in anyway, there might come the day when it seems strange not to offer them refreshments, let them through the front door, even get them roped into the household chores.
It was only a matter of time before a relationship between the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow and the group of young people who have adopted the spacious, skate friendly, steps surrounding the gallery building, would bear significant fruit - good or bad. GoMA has jumped at the chance of forming a positive bond with its weekend residents with the help of nuArts, a community arts and education company belonging to Graham MacIver, a video film-maker.
While the hopes and dreams of young people are being acted out and put to the vote in Fame Academy and Popstars: The Rivals, NU, a collection of colour portraiture and video work, will show the reality of the lives of the goths and skaters - social labels of which they do not approve - as they revealed to MacIver's cameras during the summer.
''In the current culture of fly-on-the-wall and reality TV, I suppose the viewing public are becoming somewhat de-sensitised to the medium,'' says MacIver, ''but I think this
project will be more interesting to the general public because it is site-specific and deals with local issues that concern them as well as the young people.''
The young people themselves seem relieved to be able to prove they are just as interested in what goes on inside the building as what happens outside. ''It's been a great way to express our feelings, because lots of untrue things have been said about us and our supposed attitudes,'' says Ashley McFadzean, a 16-year-old from Aryshire whose involvement in spin-off projects
has encouraged her to pursue a career in fashion. Rosalind Dallas, 18, says: ''Before this it seemed they would do anything - take away the benches, play loud classical music, which we actually rather liked - to get rid of us. Now we've shown
we're nice people and that we
really want to get involved.''
Nicola McMillan, 16, said being asked to talk to a video camera in GoMA was the first time she's ever been invited within the gallery walls. ''Making the exhibition was a real laugh. It was good to be made welcome and it has improved things. Before some of us have felt really patronised. None of this has been.''
That was always the danger.
Stick the word ''Nu'' before a tricky high-culture word and it's not necessarily going to reel in teenagers. In fact, it's almost certain not
to, considering most of the step-inhabiters declare a disliking
for Linkin Park. The success of
the project may be down to
MacIver's unassuming, ungeneralised approach. ''I am not part of their sub-culture so think they were as cautious about me as I was about them. You can't get to understand any group like this unless you are close to them. Just as any other cross-section of society, they have
a mix of attitudes, opinions, and feelings. I think the exhibition
will change the perception of them,'' he says.
The ''video box'' recordings are the basis for the exhibition. Groups and individuals were left in a room for a few minutes to speak to the camera, the briefing being to make the most of it and be honest. Open and honest they were, about everything from their families, sexuality, and dress sense, to drink, drugs, and the problems they face from other groups in the city.
''On the solo day they really opened up, which was exactly what I was looking for,'' says MacIver. ''No-one played up to the camera.
It was a strange feeling - very voyeuristic - but at the same time I felt like they were putting their trust in me by allowing me to listen in to a segment of their lives.''
The project has been funded by the Glasgow City Council Community Action Team and Arts Development and already the NU exhibition has inspired a series of well-received drop-in taster workshops that began in September
on tattoo and piercing, comic-strip art, charcoal sketching, music
production, fashion and jewellery, photography and creative writ-
ing. The young people's only
criticism of these is that they are poorly advertised. As a result of their success, however, a joint
project to produce an exhibition
or performance is planned for the new year.
The NU exhibition is at GoMA from November 15 to February 2.
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