The Long and Winding Road

Credits

2009-05-23T11:22:00.001-07:00

The Long and Winding Road was commissioned by Hinterland 2005 and Fierce! 2007. The End of the Road was supported by The Bluecoat and the University of Chester with thanks to British Waterways and Mersey Docks. The artist would like to thank the Steering Committee, all the venues and festivals and everyone who has supported him on The Long and Winding Road. Thank you for joining me on the journey.

Venues: Arnolfini (Bristol) / ARENA Festival (Leicester) / Basement (Brighton) / Hinterland, Broadway and Hatch (Nottingham) / Depot Untapped, the ICA and Sprint 2008 (London) / Ikon Gallery and mac (Birmingham) / The Public (West Bromwich) / X-Trax 2004, Art Car Parade 2007 and Hazard08 (Manchester) / The Bluecoat (Liverpool)

Documentation: Stuart Alexander / Kevin Edwards / Rosie Garton / Dom Henry / Rhiannon Jones / Scott Kelly / Richard Kingdom / Julian Hughes / James Mattison / Ming De Nasty / John Newling / Dave Parkin / Jon Rouston / Ollie Smith / Gareth Taylor / Pete Todd

Invigilation: Rohane Renton (Bristol) / Ollie Smith (Nottingham) / Emily Smallwood and Emily Wilson (Liverpool)

Dramaturg: Rosie Garton

Technical Director: Kevin Edwards

Graphic Design: James Mattison and Mooli

Video: Active Ingredient and Vent Media

Audio: Blissful Virtuous

Illustration: Rikki Marr

Towing: CP Auto Recovery

Crushing the car

2009-05-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

Images: Julian Hughes

Last words

2009-05-17T19:51:00.001-07:00

Thank you for joining me on The Long and Winding Road. This is my car. This is my car history. On 17 May 2004 I embarked on a journey in a graffiti covered car from Nottingham to Liverpool. The car was packed with 365 mementoes wrapped in brown paper and string, tagged and logged. The journey lasts until 17 May 2009 when I will drive the car into the River Mersey. The journey started with a letter to my brother. The letter became a parcel. The parcel became a suitcase. The suitcase became a car. This is my car. This is my car history. This is the end of the road.

Immersion

2009-05-17T19:48:00.001-07:00

Baptism

2009-05-17T19:46:00.001-07:00

The End of the Road

2009-05-17T19:43:00.001-07:00

Slipway

2009-05-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

Duke's Dock

2009-05-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

The Bluecoat

2009-05-09T02:15:00.000-07:00

At the Bluecoat

2009-05-09T02:12:00.001-07:00

Dear Steering Committee

The end of the road is here. On 17 May 2004, I embarked on a journey in a graffiti-covered car from Nottingham to Liverpool. To mark the completion of this five year journey, I have been invited to end the project at The Bluecoat in Liverpool. For the month of May, the film of the journey so far will be on show in the Hub at the venue. I would like to invite you to two events as part of a trilogy at The Bluecoat. Please find below more information and attached a flier for the trilogy.

The Long and Winding Road
Saturday 16 May 2009
11am - 2pm / 3pm - 6pm
The Courtyard
Free

This intimate and poignant one-to-one performance invites passengers to join the artist for a travel sweet and a car history. The Long and Winding Road explores the experience of loss, memory, mourning and recovery. 'A highly emotive and powerful piece’ – BBC Online.

The End of the Road
Sunday 17 May 2009
3pm
Duke's Dock, Liverpool
Free

On 17 May 2009, five years after his journey began, the artist will winch the car into the Mersey. After 3000 miles, 365 passengers, 25 tins of travel sweets and 16 pit stops, the car and its contents will then be crushed. The crushed car will return to The Bluecoat in June for a final performance installation - SORN.

The Long and Winding Road was commissioned by Fierce! and Hinterland with funding from the University of Chester. Thanks to British Waterways and the Mersey Docks. For information and images go to www.acarhistory.blogspot.com. Safe driving Steering Committee. See you on The Long and Winding Road.

All best

Michael
Driver
--------------------
The Long and Winding Road is a five year live art project by Michael Pinchbeck. For more information about the artist and his work please go to www.michaelpinchbeck.co.uk

To unsubscribe from these updates please reply to this message with 'Emergency Stop' in the Subject field. Thank you for your support.

Shop

2009-05-07T23:54:00.001-07:00

Hatch

2009-05-07T23:53:00.001-07:00

Penultimate Pitstop

2009-05-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

Depot Untapped

2009-05-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

Arts Depot

2009-05-02T15:43:00.001-07:00

Service Station

2009-05-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

Merge like a zip

2009-04-14T19:27:00.001-07:00

There is a road sign in New Zealand at a point where two roads approach each other and both streams of traffic have right of way that reads 'Merge like a zip'. As we approach the end of the road, I have often thought of this as a metaphor for the way in which The Long and Winding Road merges my practice and research, absence and presence and the past and the future. When asked to talk about the project, I have often misquoted Marshall McLuhan: 'We look at the present via the rear-view mirror, we drive backwards into the future.' The view I share with a passenger of the road ahead is always foregrounded by the road behind us. The baggage on the back seat. This process of 'merging like a zip' suggests two separate roads becoming a single road. The zip forms a whole from two halves. The zip is something that both opens and closes and makes two ends meet. The project has always been about trying to find a closure without knowing how. A very good friend told me I was seeking epiphanies and now I realise that he was right. I set off on a journey on 17 May 2004 without a sense of where I was heading. It was a dot dot dot not a full stop. Now as we reach the final stages I am filled with a sense that the closure I always sought has already happened. As is often the case with this project, I am only the driver, the car and the route it follows towards its inevitable history is already mapped out. Another phrase I keep thinking of is a 'road map for peace'. Odd when the language of driving is appropriated by politics but again it suggests a sense of following a preordained route. Maybe when the car is fully immersed in the Mersey, when there is no turning back, I will find my epiphany, my road map for peace, and everything I have spent the last five years working towards will make some kind of sense. The act of driving and the act of living will 'merge like a zip'.

The End of the Road

2009-03-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

The Bluecoat

2009-03-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

The return

2008-11-12T09:36:00.001-08:00

The MOT

2008-11-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

The pick up

2008-11-12T09:21:00.000-08:00

End of the road

2008-11-12T09:16:00.000-08:00

Phoenix nights

2008-11-12T08:38:00.001-08:00

Phoenix days

2008-11-12T07:54:00.000-08:00

ARENA Festival

2008-11-12T07:46:00.000-08:00

The Basement

2008-10-31T03:16:00.001-07:00

The Departure

2008-08-30T23:26:00.001-07:00

The Atrium

2008-08-21T00:37:00.000-07:00

Images: Julian Hughes

The Long and Wide Screen

2008-08-21T00:31:00.001-07:00

Images: Julian Hughes

The Driver

2008-08-21T00:21:00.000-07:00

Images: Julian Hughes

Parked inside

2008-08-21T00:17:00.000-07:00

Images: Julian Hughes

Moving In

2008-08-21T00:15:00.000-07:00

Images: Julian Hughes

The Arrival

2008-08-21T00:09:00.000-07:00

Images: Julian Hughes

The Public

2008-08-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

Images: Julian Hughes

En Route

2008-08-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

Images: Julian Hughes

Loading Up

2008-08-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

Images: Julian Hughes

The Peak District

2008-07-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

Images: Julian Hughes

Hazard Tape

2008-07-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

St. Ann's Square

2008-07-13T07:35:00.001-07:00

Hazard08

2008-07-11T01:48:00.001-07:00

Hazard08 – Saturday 12 July 2008 – Manchester City Centre produced by hÅb and greenroom in collaboration with the artists.

On 12 July outbreaks of hazardous behaviour will once again be unleashed on Manchester City Centre. Following the 2007 onslaught of hazard zones, guerrilla live art returns to the streets.

Not everything may be what it appears to be - a flash of yellow and black may just give the game away… A public space becomes impassable… a spoof hazmat alert…flashing red runways… scene-of-crime bodies litter the streets… an intrepid group of canoeists circumnavigate the city by canal…

Bogus workmen, health + safety inspectors and tourists… real benefits advice from the Pink Panther…anime characters playing interactive games… burlesque shop mannequins…

A giant trout bathing in a fountain…outbursts of spontaneous song…a stray round of applause…a gothic twist on folkdance… a family day-trip in search of Engels…and an encampment on our least visited station…

All this and more may just catch your eye thanks to: Accidental Collective, Adela Jones/Will Pollard, Ann Rapstoff , Artificial Light,Charles Quick, Chirp, Chris Fitzsimmons, Doldrum Theatre, Shahram Entekhabi, James Long, Kate Wiggs, Martin Hamblen, Michael Pinchbeck, PLaY, The Bucket Company, The Institute for the Art + Practice of Dissent at Home in Liverpool, The Muffia, Varsity of Maneuvers, whatsthebigmistry

Supported by: Manchester City Council, the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Urbis, Northern Rail
Core support: Arts Council England and AGMA.
Thanks to: Royal Exchange Theatre, Mandy Martinez and Zion Arts.

HAZARD:
12 July 12-6pm free
Manchester City Centre:
Cathedral Gardens, Exchange Square, St Ann's Square, Market Street, Piccadilly Gardens and points between and around!
To find out more: 0161 615 0500
Information point on 12 July: outside Urbis

Camden People's Theatre

2008-07-11T01:36:00.000-07:00

Michael Pinchbeck’s The Long and Winding Road puts audience members in the passenger seat of a Ford Fiesta filled with 365 mementoes

Camden Feature | Review| Sprint Festival 2008 | Camden People's Theatre

The 11th year of an experimental show is giving its organisers sleepless nights, writes Simon Wroe

MATT Ball doesn’t get much sleep.

A few hours a night, if he’s lucky. Over the past few months the 32-year-old art director of the Camden People’s Theatre (CPT) has lost even more shut-eye than usual wrestling with Sprint, the annual experimental drama festival.

Now in its 11th year at the Hampstead Road venue, Sprint has carved a niche on the performance art scene with its maverick programming: 24-hour continuous performances and a converted theatre of beds where actors and audience lie together are typical.

Each year the creature grows a little more, this time venturing outside the doors of the Euston theatre to incorporate a promenade detective story in a disused hotel nearby and a parked car in Triton Square which the audience enters one at a time. It’s the second year in the hotseat for Ball, CPT’s only full-time employee. Fortunately, he’s an insomniac.

“It’s either a labour of love or an act of lunacy,” he says. “I don’t think there are many other venues in London which would let people take the risks we let them take. Most of our work is about encouraging others to be brave and not compromise.”

Michael Pinchbeck’s The Long and Winding Road puts audience members in the passenger seat of a Ford Fiesta filled with 365 mementoes belonging to the actor’s brother, who died in an accident in Liverpool ten years ago. Pinchbeck will end the run by driving the car into the River Mersey.

In Black Tonic, guests wander the corridors of a hotel populated by a manic housekeeper, a lusty couple, a guilt-ridden executive and a single spot of blood. Over the course of June, Japanese Bunraku puppetry, mechanical bull riding and mask-making will all feature.

When Ball is not in the theatre he is searching far and wide for the next thing to “blow his mind away”. This year he has been to Glasgow, Birmingham, Toronto and Bristol on the hunt. Nightfall, a one-off performance by “pseudo-goths” at sunset on the midsummer solstice, which extends into the darkness of the night, is a result of his tireless explorations and demonstrates the transient “in this moment only” qual ity unique to Sprint.

Others, such as the “misplaced landscape” of Aegean Fatigue and the Yiddish-inflected Kiss from the Last Red Squirrel, were created specifically for the festival in collaboration with the theatre. Submissions pour in from all over the country too. One, a video of a typhoon being made in a café, has become 15 Storms in a Teacup, where ecosystems are created on stage in miniature using household materials. “The people who present the work are the artists. They have created the work as opposed to receiving a script and performing that,” Ball says. “A lot of the work is visually led. It’s about the images and the movements as much as the words.” Sprint was the lure that first brought Ball to the theatre four years ago, as the director of an aerialist show about Ariadne. He liked the theatre’s “willingness to take risks”.

These risks, by their nature, must involve the audience to some extent. Ball remembers a show last year called The Long Walk to the Performance that was set up like a birthday party, with the audience invited on to the stage at one point to dance and make merry. One night a young group of friends took over, turning the performance into their own party, even eating the birthday cake. The company adapted with good humour. Another year the theatre troupe Ridiculismus ran a cloakroom, neglecting to tell the audience they would be using their coats and bags as the costumes. “It’s quite a risky game, particularly as one of the actors was very big,” laughs Ball. “There were a few stretched items of clothing.

“But whilst we’re taking risks, it’s important the audience is taken care of. We try to make it so that if you are in a bed with someone it doesn’t feel too weird.”

Sprint Festival 2008 is at the Camden People’s Theatre, 58-60 Hampstead Road, NW1, from May 29 until June 29. To book tickets call 08700 600 100.

The Driver

2008-07-11T01:33:00.001-07:00

The view from the driver's seat

2008-06-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

To reach the clouds

2008-06-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

Happy House Air Freshener

2008-06-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

360 Degrees

2008-06-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

Past and Future

2008-06-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

Before and After

2008-06-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

SPRINT Festival

2008-06-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Steering Committee

The Long and Winding Road is returning to London to take part in the SPRINT Festival organised by Camden People's Theatre. The profile of the project is rising faster than fuel prices, with a Critic's Choice in Time Out and a mention in What to see this week on Lyn Gardner's The Guardian blog.

SPRINT Festival, London
Thursday 12 June - Saturday 14 June 2008
12pm - 2pm / 6pm - 8pm

Parked on Triton Square near Warren Street Tube Station, I offer passengers a travel sweet and invite them to join me for a car history. The one-to-one performance was commissioned by Fierce! Festival.

Watch this space for project updates and an invitation to the end of the road in December 2008. Safe driving Steering Committee. See you on The Long and Winding Road.

All best

Michael
Driver
--------------------

The Long and Winding Road is a four year live art project by Michael Pinchbeck. For more information about the artist and his work please go to www.michaelpinchbeck.co.uk

Running away

2008-05-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

The project reached its four year anniversary yesterday. The film was on show at Broadway in Nottingham. The car parked outside. People joined me for a travel sweet. I reflected on how four years ago I was running away after posting the keys to the car through the letterbox of the house where my brother died. As if handing it over to him. And now here I am ten years after he fell. Wondering whether I'm running away or towards him. I am a writer trying to write. I am a performer trying to perform. I am a live artist trying to live art. Sometimes I think people wonder why I am doing this project. I have reached a point where the reason for the journey has become public property. The reaction to the reason varies from person to person, passenger to passenger. One passenger yesterday told me she loved the performance, another passenger spat out her travel sweet. I don't think I'll really know the reason until the end of the road. Like US performance company, Goat Island say - 'We have discovered a performance by making it' I hope I have discovered The Long and Winding Road by driving it. Someone asked me if I would find closure when I drive the car into the River Mersey. I said I won't know until I do. There are now six months left.

Mirror

2008-05-18T13:34:00.001-07:00

Signal

2008-05-18T13:26:00.000-07:00

Manoeuvre

2008-05-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

Unloading bay

2008-05-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

Recovery

2008-05-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

Broadway, Nottingham - 17 May 2008

2008-05-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

I am still your worst nightmare

2008-04-30T00:18:00.000-07:00

Arnolfini

2008-04-30T00:15:00.001-07:00

Ferry Cross the Mersey

2008-02-10T22:54:00.000-08:00

Liverpool Site Visit

2008-02-08T07:47:00.000-08:00

Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre: Politics of intimacy and risk on The Long and Winding Road

2007-12-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

I have been working on a performance lecture on the art of driving and auto-recovery which I delivered at Manchester Metropolitan University in October and York St. John University in November. This month I attended INTIMACY Across Visceral and Digital Performance at Goldsmiths University of London. I was invited to speak about The Long and Winding Road in relation to notions of intimacy and risk. I took my rear view mirror and offered members of the audience a travel sweet before showing films of the journey to Liverpool on 17 May 2004 and the one-to-one performance. This is what I said:

The Long and Winding Road began on 17 May 2004 when I embarked on a journey in a graffiti covered car from Nottingham to Liverpool. The car was packed with 300 items wrapped in brown paper and string. The journey lasts until 17 May 2008 when I drive the car into the River Mersey.

This is my car. This is my car history. This is the film of the journey I made on 17 May 2004 and those were the first words from a one-to-one performance in the car. Passengers are invited to fasten their seat belts and join me for a travel sweet as I share the reason for the journey and the story of the journey so far via the rear view mirror. This is my car. This is my car history. This is my rear view mirror. And this is the reason for the journey. The mementoes in the car are items that belonged to my brother who died in Liverpool on 17 May 1998. The reason for the journey is best explained in the one-to-one performance in the car, parked in the direction of Liverpool, looking in the rear view mirror, wearing a seat belt, sucking a travel sweet, surrounded by mementoes on The Long and Winding Road.

This year, I was commissioned by Fierce! Festival in Birmingham to create the one-to-one performance. It is an invitation to remember and an act of repair. The narrative of the performance is the journey of auto-recovery as the car is painted, dented and damaged, and towed from galleries to garages. The car has made pitstops at the Ikon Gallery and the Mac in Birmingham, the ICA in London, X-Trax Festival and the inaugural Art Car Parade in Manchester. I have become fascinated with the notion of intimacy exchanged by sharing a car with someone and the transaction that takes place via the rear view mirror. For Intimacy, I ask Where does the intimacy reside - in the mind or in the mirror?

It feels the most appropriate method to share material of an intimate nature. To reflect the raw emotion of a description of death. I don’t describe feelings only the details of the day my brother died. The blu tac left behind on his walls when we took down his posters. The wall chart that has nothing on it after the 17 May 1998. The mirror manages to issue an invitation to be intimate, to make eye contact, to engage, to receive, to relive, to help me to remember. The mirror doubles the distance between driver and passenger, performer and audience to make the experience both intimate and detached. I am always conscious of how the passenger is sitting and adjust how I sit accordingly. One passenger spat out their travel sweet and I performed an emergency stop. Others stay to talk. The mirror is our driving instructor. These are the politics of intimacy on The Long and Winding Road – to look in the mirror before every manoeuvre. To be aware of the passenger and how they feel. Sometimes I follow the two second rule – inviting passengers to ask me questions by leaving pauses in the text. Creating a space for interaction via the mirror. To frame the past in the present. To be aware of the baggage I carry and how I share it. This is my car. This is my car history. At this crossroads, I will misquote Marshall McLuhan;

We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We drive backwards into the future.

This is the Mirror in Mirror-Signal-Manoeuvre, I always look into it before I set off. I am documenting The Long and Winding Road using a blog (acarhistory.blogspot.com) This is an online space for mirror-signal-manoeuvre style reflections and creative sliproads. A space where the road behind you constantly foregrounds the road ahead and the past is always present in the future. A space that both the driver and passengers can visit in between pit stops to reflect on the journey. A space which asks when does the documentation become the artwork and does it matter. A space which asks How does the one-to-one performance replace or repair? The passenger seat could be a space for my brother. Two of us driving nowhere. Spending someone’s hard earned pay. Mementoes create a physical and emotional trace of him. Representing him in his absence. And as we crane our necks beneath his belongings we are conscious of his presence. I often reflect on how different performances have different tones, different energies, depending on the mood or the moment. I have performed as hail has rained down on the roof and had to shout as if I was screaming at the heavens. I have a steering committee guiding me on the journey who act as an outside eye ensuring I stay on the straight and narrow of The Long and Winding Road, making the project for others as well as myself. There is a road sign in New Zealand when two roads approach a junction where both have right of way. It reads ‘Merge like a zip’. The project attempts to ‘merge like a zip’ the experience of driver and passenger via the mirror, past and present, subjective and objective, research and practice, cultural theory and popular culture. From Marshall MacLuhan to Meatloaf.

Objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are

This is the main risk on The Long and Winding Road – intimate work brings with it its own baggage. What is the risk of sharing a personal loss? Am I too close to the material? And how much do I tell people? I didn’t mention the reason in the abstract because it feels like over-sharing. You are artists and academics who don’t need to know about my loss. I remember sitting there as someone was talking about work that paid tribute to a loved one or reading about work that became lost in its own grief and I know how awkward it can feel. The interflora school of art. But art history is littered with examples. William Blake was inspired by the loss of his brother. The hooded figures in Magritte’s paintings recall seeing his mother being fished from a river, drowned, with her nightgown over her head. The installations of Felix Gonzales-Torres commemorated his lover. I think also of Ron Mueck’s Dead Dad. Popular music commemorates loss all the time. Julia and Let it Be. John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s odes to lost mothers. The Beatles The Long and Winding Road speaks to me when I am driving about my brother’s loss.

Many times I’ve been alone and many times I’ve cried. In many ways you’ll never know how many times I’ve tried. But still they lead me back. To the long and winding road. You left me standing here. A long long time ago. Don’t leave me waiting here. Lead me to your door.

The project began when I started to realise that a song I had always listened to from my point of view could be listened to from his. It was an attempt to turn the subjective experience into an objective experience. This film ends with me walking up to the door of the house where my brother died and posting the keys to the car through the letterbox.

This is the signal. A signal of my intent. The mileometer went to zero at the Cavern Club and that was a signal too. A sign. I am keen to give passengers in the car the right signals through how the experience is framed, in what context and with what interpretation. I don’t want to invite people into the car without them knowing about the content of the performance. This isn’t therapy. If anything it’s a sort of anti-therapy. Immunising myself to loss through repetition. Making a mantra of a moment in my life where the landscape changed irrevocably. I resist calling the project cathartic. Catharsis means a release of emotions and an evacuation of the bowels. At the same time, I am on a journey of auto-recovery and I use the car as a metaphor for my experience of loss – and the language of driving to describe it. I am a driver not a performer. The audience is a passenger. The Long and Winding Road is a journey not a performance with breakdowns, slip roads and pit stops. There is an electrical car component designed to kick in after an accident called the ‘Keep Alive Memory’ and that is what I am doing on The Long and Winding Road. This is my car. This is my car history. To quote David Savlan, in Breaking the Rules;

It performs the inability of historical discourse to comprehend and describe the feelings aroused during several hours of unfamiliar experience. It performs the fact that history, like theatre, is always a dance of absence and substitution, a dance of death.

I now want to show you the film of the one-to-one-performance in the car. It was difficult to film a moment of intimacy so I decided that I was secondary to the experience. The car is the focal point. Filmed by a camera that doesn’t know. Each performance lasts five minutes and each is different as every audience member meets me to different degrees in the mirror. This is the manoeuvre. This is my car. This is my car history. Thank you for joining me on The Long and Winding Road.

Michael Pinchbeck
December 2007

A-Z

2007-10-14T02:34:00.001-07:00

Everywhere we go I buy an A-Z of that city. So the car can have 'the knowledge' of where we are like a London taxi driver. Derby. Leicester. Birmingham. Nottingham. Manchester. London. Liverpool. The Liverpool A-Z is waiting. The Derby A-Z opens up like a Ordnance Survey map. Spread across the bonnet. The London A-Z is from the 1950s. Streets have disappeared. The Nottingham A-Z is missing a cover because it's been used so much to find places, to move houses, to point relatives in the right direction. The Leicester A-Z has not touched since I left. The Manchester A-Z is brand new. I mark pages where the car has been parked. From the ICA to the Ikon Gallery. The River Trent to the River Mersey. Albert Square to Albert Docks.

Where are we?

2007-10-14T02:18:00.001-07:00

We arrived half an hour early but we weren't sure where we were. Sat Nav wasn't sure either. Chris - the Auto-Recovery driver - pulled over to check so I could phone my Art Car contact. When we knew where to go we pulled out and a lady in a jeep drove straight into the side of us. She was tired. She was frantic. She didn't see us pulling out in front of her. She damaged her jeep. There was no trace of a crash on the Auto-Recovery vehicle. Scuffed tyres. Brushed off. She was heading home from work. She stood in the middle of the road next to her dented jeep parked at an angle. Frozen mid-crash. Shouting. Smoking. Arms folded. I thought she was going to cry or shout. Or sue. The police arrived. They pushed her jeep out of the middle of the road. They made her hand over her insurance details which she'd refused to do before they came. I'd stopped filming the moment we made contact. We should have taken pictures of the jeep to prove there was no more damage than there was. Chris says it's surprising how much damage is sometimes done after the accident. Chris says she is still making a claim.

Cartists

2007-10-14T02:01:00.001-07:00

Rush hour traffic

2007-10-14T01:19:00.000-07:00

The Long and Winding Road

2007-09-12T03:40:00.000-07:00

The Long and Winding Board

2007-09-12T03:36:00.000-07:00

The Lollipop Ladies

2007-09-12T03:32:00.000-07:00

The Angels

2007-09-12T03:28:00.000-07:00

The Pits

2007-09-12T03:24:00.000-07:00

Albert Square

2007-09-12T03:19:00.000-07:00

The Arrival

2007-09-12T03:15:00.000-07:00

The Pennine View

2007-09-12T03:05:00.000-07:00

Height limit

2007-09-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

Steering Committee

2007-09-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

Heading North

2007-09-10T01:06:00.000-07:00

A new phenomenon is set to sweep the motorways, highways and streets across the UK as Arts organisation Walk the Plank, in partnership with Manchester City Council, create the UK's first Art Car Parades in Manchester on the 8th September.

Michael Trainor, Curator of Art Cars 2007 explains... "An Art Car is a drivable installation - any vehicle which has been re-imagined, re-styled, re modelled, or completely metamorphosed by an artist. Vehicles can be decorated, sculpted, adorned, illuminated or bejewelled to create "transports of delight" in the shape of cars, trucks, bikes and trikes, mobility scooters or even pedal or solar-powered contraptions!"

The Art Car Parade is a totally new concept in the UK: designed to challenge the glorification and dominance of the car in a creative, playful and inventive way, which also encourages people to think about using their cars less, to reduce congestion and pollution.

The original concept to bring an Art Car Parade to the UK was conceived by Liz Pugh and John Wassell from Walk the Plank, one of the UK's leading Arts organisations specialising in outdoor performance. Art Car Parades are a huge phenomenon in the USA, with the first, and by far the largest, in Houston with 250 Art Cars on show, attracting over 200,000 spectators annually. John saw that Parade in 1990 when working in Texas, and Liz saw some of the Art Cars at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada a few years later.

Artists from all over the UK have been commissioned to create weird and wonderful vehicles to take part in the Parade some of these include:

Tiki Love Mobile - A mosaic/ceramic adorned and illuminated automobile, created by Baroness von Reichardt and her partner Mr Spunky, which is driven by two hula girls.

Team Minnie have created a bespoke fabric outfit made from customised and recycled materials, beautifully tailored to fit the curves of their Mini. Minnie is created by a team of female artists from Manchester.

Carbon Miles - A Trabant famous for being horribly polluting converted to pedal power, in its 50th anniversary year, created by artist Jamie McCartney.

Liz Pugh, from Walk the Plank comments...

"As well as inviting established artists we want members of the public to get involved and create Art Cars of their own. We're encouraging participation from people from all over the country to get creative and join the fun by producing their own transport of delight... possibly with matching outfits! Walk The Plank has already received interest from community groups, mechanics, youth groups, musicians and individuals, and are looking forward to receiving more creative ideas"

Autobahn

2007-09-10T00:55:00.000-07:00

Recovery service

2007-09-10T00:45:00.000-07:00

auto

1. automatic
2. automotive
3. automobile

auto-

1. self; same; of or by the same one: autobiography
2. self-caused: auto-hypnosis
2. self-propelling: automobile

autobahn

a German Motorway

autobiography

an account of a person's life written or otherwise recorded by that person

recovery

1. the act or process of recovering, esp. from sickness, a shock or a setback
2. restoration to a former or better condition
3. the regaining of something lost
4. the extraction of useful substances from waste

This is Chris

2007-09-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

This is Chris. He owns CP Auto Recovery the company that tows the car from garages to galleries. One of the highlights of The Long and Winding Road is working with Chris. He is an artist of logistics. He takes pride in his work.The way he lowers the tilting top of the tow truck. The way he ties the tyres to the platform. The way he drives. I love the conversations we have on the open road. So far we have touched upon the dangers of Satellite Navigation, the perils of the congestion charge, accountancy for the self-employed and the way his job is like a funeral director for cars. He gets called out to a lot of accidents. And a lot of the cars involved in those accidents aren't going to drive back home. They will be written off. Chris is the man who does the writing off. He has seen some things in his time. I value his support and advice. He was the only Auto Recovery company I called who sounded interested in the project. He checked this website. He has been great at providing quotes for different pit stops on The Long and Winding Road. He drove the car back to Nottingham from the ICA at 2am in the morning in the pouring rain with a fake Ferrari Testarossa on the back of the truck at the same time. I don't know if I could do that. He keeps the car at his yard until I'm back in town. When we roll it up the slope into my lock up he says things like 'It's been on it's little adventure' or 'Let's put it back to bed.' He is recommending ways of crushing the car and winching it into the River Mersey next year. Chris is a member of the Steering Committee. It's good to have him on board. I don't think I could follow The Long and Winding Road without him.

Art Car Parade

2007-08-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

... BRAKING NEWS ...

Clunk Click. The Long and Winding Road has been invited to make a guest pit stop at Manchester's inaugural art car parade in September. Artists from all over the country have been specially commissioned by Walk the Plank to transform vehicles into mobile artworks, and create an exciting new kind of festival never before seen in the UK. The UK’s first Art Car Parade will take place in Manchester on Saturday 8th September 2007. Followed by the UK’s first Illuminated Art Car Parade in Blackpool for the Festival of Light, part of the Illuminations on Sunday 21st October. Vehicles will be decorated, sculpted, adorned, illuminated or bejewelled to create “Transports of Delight” in the shape of cars, trucks, bikes and pedal-powered contraptions. For more information go to www.artcarparade.co.uk.

Driver

2007-08-01T16:52:00.001-07:00

Wing-mirror

2007-08-01T15:21:00.001-07:00

Passers-by

2007-08-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

Roundabout

2007-08-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

The road goes ever on

2007-07-06T07:32:00.001-07:00

The road goes ever on and on
And I must follow if I can
Pursuing it with eager feet
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet
And what then? I cannot say...

J. R. Tolkein

Reflections

2007-07-06T05:12:00.000-07:00

Double take

2007-07-06T04:59:00.000-07:00

Tunnel vision

2007-07-06T04:21:00.000-07:00

I can't sleep tonight
Everybody saying everything's alright
Still I can't close my eyes
I'm seeing a tunnel at the end of all these lights

- Travis

Concrete corset

2007-07-06T04:10:00.000-07:00

Riding shotgun

2007-07-06T04:01:00.000-07:00

Pit stop

2007-07-06T03:41:00.000-07:00

Snapshots

2007-07-06T03:31:00.000-07:00

Travel sweet

2007-07-06T03:13:00.001-07:00

Blue sky thinking

2007-07-06T02:45:00.000-07:00

Personal and close up

2007-07-05T00:23:00.001-07:00

Up close and personal

2007-07-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

The Long and Winding Ring Road

2007-07-04T11:41:00.001-07:00

Return of the mac

2007-07-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

On 3 July 2007 The Long and Winding Road was invited to make a pit stop in Birmingham for a Creative Partnerships Sharing Day at mac. The day was introduced by Soweto Kinch and other artists involved included Juneau Projects and Stan's Cafe. This was an opportunity to talk about the Fierce! Youth Panel commission in June and invite passengers into the car to join me for a travel sweet. The Fierce! Youth Panel are interested in filming the final leg of the journey to Liverpool next year. The Fierce! TV film of The Long and Winding Road outside Ikon Gallery is now online at www.fierce.tv.co.uk

SORN

2007-07-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

Received on 4 July 2007:

Dear Sir / Madam,

VEHICLE REGISTRATION MARK: J807 ROK
MAKE/MODEL: FORD FIESTA BONUS

Thank you for making your Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) for this vehicle.

The vehicle record now shows that SORN applies from 01/07/07. The SORN will expire on 30/06/08. You should receive a reminder about 2 weeks before the SORN expires. However it remains your responsibility to ensure that you renew the SORN or license the vehicle. If you sell, permanently export, or scrap the vehicle you must tell us. The notes on the vehicle registration certificate (V5C) explain what to do.

Yours faithfully,

DVLA

Sent on 5 July 2007:

Dear DVLA,

Thank you for sending me a Statutory Off Road Notification.

I plan to drive the car into the River Mersey on 17 May 2007. I will then retrieve the car from the river and crush it into a cube. I will cut this cube up into little cubes to be distributed amongst my Steering Committee. I could not find any notes in the vehicle registration certificate (V5C) that tell me what to do about this. I will inform you of the event nearer the time.

Yours faithfully,

Michael
Driver

PS Perhaps I could add you to my Steering Committee?