'Utopian' artisan : David Harding and the town art of Glenrothes

Abstract

This thesis provides a critical history of the public art of Glenrothes and the role of the town artist, with a focus on David Harding’s tenure, 1968-78, which has been overlooked in academic study and by the art world. It contributes to knowledge of New Town art (town art) and associated practice, particularly in Scotland, with which to connect historical activity to the present, and provides timely consideration of the continued relevance of town art through its enduring yet insecure presence in Glenrothes and in the lived experience of residents. This is pursued through a thematically contextualised cataloguing of town art, a framework that charts Harding’s conceptual development in relation to contemporaneous activity and the shift from “public sculpture” towards site-specific environmental and community art, positioning town art as a significant antecedent to the subsequent evolution of social art practices. The research considers approaches to urbanism and public art whereby town art was made in relation to shortcomings in planning which were addressed by artists who reconceptualised the site, form, and arrangement of art and public space, particularly within housing and infrastructure, its materiality derived from the building site, brick and concrete. The development of Harding’s practice is analysed through the socio-political thinking of the era and the turn toward conceptual and collaborative practices linking community art, participation, and play. This is explored through critical examination of Harding’s collaborative methodology, developed via interactive environmental sculpture, performance and participatory community art projects, and a dialogic art practice with which to engage the audience, leading to the formation of shared identity. Investigation shows how the emplacement of the artist in a corporate hierarchy and in the community, and the embedding of site-specific art in the environment, facilitated the distinction of place. Harding’s town art practice represents a paradigm shift in linking site-specific, collaborative, and community art to provide means of locational identity, and presents a utopian contrast to later concepts of participation and socially engaged art, Creative Placemaking, and non-places.