The Master Plan is an artist’s book, authored by Stephen Hodge of Wrights & Sites, as a complementary project to the public art programme commissioned by Situations and Field Art Projects for Weston-super-Mare. The programme formed part of Sea Change, a national initiative to support the revitalisation of British seaside towns in 2010. Wrights & Sites, an artist/academic collective, were one of the six artists commissioned. This book takes as its inspiration the collective’s reconnaissance material collected whilst researching their permanent commission ‘Everything you need to build a town is here’. The unpublished transcript of a public meeting for the post-war redevelopment of the town acts as a catalyst for a visual exploration of redevelopment and regeneration from the ‘fantastic acropolis’ of Portmeirion to SimCity master-builders. Hodge annotates the transcript of this 1947 meeting with historical and contemporary newspaper cuttings, found material and photographs, concluding with a conversation which explores the context of regeneration as an inspiration and hindrance for contemporary artists.
The Master Plan by Stephen Hodge, is co-published by Book Works and Situations, as part of Co-Series, in an edition of 1,000 copies, full colour and b/w, 96 pages, soft cover. Designed by Polimekanos, 210 x 297mm.