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Daniel Newton - Action Research Project

image: 'Prologue' display case at Parson Cross Library, Daniel Newton 2013

Daniel Newton is 1 of 4 artists awarded an Action Reserach Bursary through the Yorkshire Artspace Engaged Practice Starter Studio Programme.  He is developing ideas and work in response to the Parson Cross neighbourhood during 2013; 

Action Research Question:  Is it possible to integrate creative practice in to the Parson Cross ‘communities’ in a way that gradually attracts or interests people through its own natural functionality and being, rather than explicitly informing a public of its presence and actively inviting participation? Can my work exist as both furtive and ‘socially charged/engaged’?

I will be staging small-scale and subtle interventions that people may happen upon. Equally, they may simply sit unnoticed, untouched, yet simultaneously uncompromised. I am interested in creating a growing sense of playful change and difference.

The process thus far has been very challenging, however, the programme is enabling me to push myself out of the comfort zone of my academic work, to create a more honest and socially relevant body of work, experiences and conversations.

As an ‘outsider’ based in Leeds, I am currently exploring the in between zone that is my travel; a space of contemplation and planning. In accordance with the above, I am engaging in an exchange of objects between Leeds and Sheffield to create a sense of ‘the same but different’ within both sites.

The programme has encouraged the realisation that small personal developments are of equal merit to the manifestation of my ideas in artworks. I am feeling a growing sense of maturity within myself and the way I approach my work. I aim to open myself to a plethora of imponderables with the exciting acceptance that not all will be fully resolved. I am very much looking forward to seeing how things unravel over the coming months.