The Start of All Imaginings. Venice Architecture Biennale 2022 - 2023
The Start of All Imaginings was presented at the 2023 edition of Time Space Existence. The exhibition of artists and architects draws attention to the emerging expressions of sustainability in its numerous forms, ranging from a focus on the environment and urban landscape to the unfolding conversations on innovation, reuse and community.
MacKinnon-Day’s film works follow a community of market traders on their journey to a newly built market space.
The Start of All Imaginings reveals that markets serve as social spaces in various ways for distinct social groups. The traders discuss how their social life plays a significant role in creating a vibrant atmosphere in the market, while also being important in forging connections with the community itself. They also describe their various interactions with shoppers as a crucial component of the social life within the market, especially for older people who regularly visit markets for the pleasure of these relationships. They see the market as a place of social bonding and social inclusion, particularly for those who are more marginalised in the city. Passing the time of day in the market and chatting with a trader or another shopper might be the only chance they’ve had to talk with someone all day. It’s also seen as a social space for families with children, particularly on weekends, when people arrange to meet friends, shop, and talk at leisure. A market’s strength is its community, social inclusion, and care for others. One trader described it as simply `rubbing along’ .
Most research on markets has focused on investigating the economic aspects of markets. An ethnographic case study of a mid-western American flea market was carried out by Sherry in 1990 looking at market buyer and seller behaviour, marketplace ambience. However, the social importance of markets has received little attention, except for a study by Watson and Wells in 2005 about social interaction and conflict in a north London market
Film extracts:
Media links:
Juliet Contemporary Art Magazine November 2023
Time Space Existence 2023 publication page 412-413
Contemporary Visual Arts Network North West (CVAN NW) June 2023
The Start of All Imaginings, Chester Contemporary September 2023