Deptford X marks the spot for arts

10:37am Wednesday 1st October 2008

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Deptford X is 10 years old and still going strong. Kerry Ann Eustice looks at how the festival helped fuel regeneration in the area and even caught Italian Vogue's attention.

Glossy style mags, trend spotters and the property set have been calling Deptford the new Hoxton for close to a decade.

Cheap rents drew a high volume of artists and independent businesses which have had the cool hunters frothing ever since. Its annual visual arts festival, Deptford X, was one of the forces which put the area on their radar.

There at the beginning was artist Reuben Thornhill. He was passed the festival directing baton after Rosalind Miller (who after realising most artists held open studios thought it would be great for the area to co-ordinate these events and hold them all together) had put in some initial leg work.

"It was a by-artists-for-artists thing," said Reuben who helmed the event from 1998 to 2003 and is still on the committee.

"Even at the beginning people were really keen on the whole thing. It got a lot of positive but slightly overstated press."

By overstated press' Reuben is referring to profiles of Deptford in Italian Vogue (Vogue is still keen on the area today, incidentally, and the Deptford Project cafe and gallery space featured in a recent issue) and even a piece in Virgin Atlantic's in-flight magazine.

"I can just imagine the beautiful people of Milan turning up in Deptford," he laughs.

"They portray Deptford as some utopia but it's also a real inner-city borough. It's not all cappuccinos and walking your toy poodle.

"It was weird the hype, but everyone got really into the festival. And it has delivered more as the years have gone on, getting a bit of a reputation."

A reputation for boundary-pushing arts that is.

The attention grabbing continues this year with projects such as Reuben's Contemporary Art Collective (the banner for his establishment-challenging work) piece Plinth - a spoof of Antony Gormley's Trafalgar Square plinth idea where he proposes the general public will be his art. Reuben's take is to give it a circus side show spin.

Nicholas Cornwell responded to the currency theme by creating large-scale old English coins and scattering them around Lewisham College's Deptford campus.

Also look out for Ben Cummins' audio walk Pavement Sonnets - Deptford Scars and Artmonger's quirky Keep it Together, where shops on Deptford High Street will be bound with brown tape to avoid complete collapse' from recession.

Programming projects outside of the traditional gallery space in this way - work has been found in hairdressers, Mansie's Pie Shop, Brookmell Park DIY market stalls (for fruit and veg chess) in previous years - has, says Rueben brought art to a new audience.

This alternative and interactive flavour has grown out of the hype catching the eye of Italian Vogue brings.

In early years, there was ample exhibition space thanks to plentiful empty warehouses and retail outlets. But attention has brought about regeneration, meaning Deptford X's participators have had to get more creative.

"There's less opportunity in terms of empty space, the success of the project and regeneration through the arts has meant it has changed the scene," Reuben explained.

"The idea of pulling all the different groups together and showcasing an area, putting Deptford geographically on the map for the arts, was quite a good move," he added.

"It got the ball rolling. It can't, obviously, take all the credit. But Deptford X was quite a good model for regeneration through the arts."

He refers to Charles Landry's 2001 Creative Lewisham report which discussed the arts as a new economy in the borough.

"The report was saying look this is where we can move ahead with the creative industries of the future'. Deptford X was part of that."

Proving just how imbedded art has become to Deptford Reuben stresses just how important this festival is to the community.

"It's maintained an importance not only to the makers, but the audience. Because it's been going 10 years, the engagement has gradually built up.

"It's amazing when you get involved in a project and you bring in local businesses.

"Once Paul Hedge of the Hales Gallery gave work to the fishmonger the Codfather, which agreed to give him a year's worth of fish in exchange for the art. Things like that are fantastic.

"It has seeped into the Deptford psyche. It's almost as if when Deptford X is on you can't avoid art, it's all over the show."

Deptford X until Oct 19. Various venues in Deptford.