THE CHALLENGE
Coventry, United Kingdom is declared to be the UK City of Culture 2021.
The challenge is to develop and communicate a creative proposal for a Coventry inspired informative sculpture art-trail that would be suited to the city-wide celebration of the City of Culture Experience.
The chosen theme is "Passage of Time"
WHAT IS TWO TONE?
The Two Tone Record Label aka Ska, created in Coventry in the 1980's
released music which for the first time in British chart history fused the music of Jamaican reggae and British punk. This fusion of styles was both spontaneous and important, evolving to inspire a sense of community among people of different ethnic backgrounds.
“I felt like Coventry was some kind of multicultural haven, I... felt like maybe Coventry is the place where black and white do unite”
-Gurinder Chaddha, film director
THE BIG IDEA
The C-Art trail references two-tone's central theme of racial equality and inclusivity.
The C-Art trail uses two-tone music to create an interactive and participatory gameplay where multiple users can connect in person.
The trail is based on strangers synchronising their rhythms on different track sliders to create collaborative art, providing a platform for strangers from different backgrounds to meet and interact with each other.
The C-Art trail references two-tone's central theme of racial equality and inclusivity.
The C-Art trail uses two-tone music to create an interactive and participatory gameplay where multiple users can connect in person.
The trail is based on strangers synchronising their rhythms on different track sliders to create collaborative art, providing a platform for strangers from different backgrounds to meet and interact with each other.
The original concept of TwoTone music in the 70's was to bring Black and White people together, however present day Coventry is a much more racially diverse city. Just two colours, Black and White do not symbolise inclusivity for all racial groups. We introduced New Tone.
The base of the cart is shaped like a guitar volume knob to reference Two-Tone musical relations.
The knob structure has sliders along the top face, and each slider plays a single track/ instrument. When all sliders are slid up together by all participants, the song completes and plays as an outcome of collaborative interaction.
Three versions of the Art Trail are produced, each with a different graphic pattern, based on the traditional square checkerboard pattern. Each C-Art Trail would plays a different Two Tone classic song and has a different version of the iconic dancing "Rude Boy" on the top.
Moving from two-tone to new-tone:
Lights were added to the inside of the base of the art trail, which would remain white as a rule, but when people come together and all tracks are played simultaneously, the white turns to a multicolour rainbow, symbolising Coventry's shift from a Biracial to Multiracially inclusive home for all, and how the C-Art Trail brings together people of all backgrounds.
Song: A message to you Rudy
- The Specials, 1979
The Two Tone Record Label
Two versions of printed pamphlets are produced-
a low cost version with only two color print on paper,
and a high cost holographic card version.
ANTI RACISM INITIATIVE
PRODUCT AND WEBSITE DESIGN
The C-Art trail would definitely bring people of different backgrounds together, but we did not want the conversation to end when the people left the New Tone installation.
Thus we designed the intersecting Anti-Racism dual wristband which participants could get for free by registering on our New Tone Trail website. The wristband is collectible for free from the nearest Asda/ Sainsbury's store on verification of a QR code.
The website also offers information about ongoing Two-Tone events in Coventry, Two-Tone history, and locations of the other New Tone C-Art Trails.
“ I think a lot of people encounter Two Tone and discover in it a sense of belonging and that doesn’t surprise me because it’s part of affirming a big shift in the way British culture operates. It made the encounter between black and white young people an ordinary feature of life. It liberated those encounters from the kind of weight they were made to bear. ”
-Paul Gilroy, author
COLLABORATIVE CREDITS
Aniello Cashmore - Concept & Research
Benga Ionut - 3D Art, Visual Design
Dominik Kozlowski - Visual Design
PERSONAL ROLE
Concept & Research
Visual Design