’ough’ough

'ough'ough was commissioned by Radar for the Market Town project.

Europa (Robert Sollis) and artist and illustrator Peter Nencini have looked at the difficulties of creating graphic identities for places, and thought about the differences between brand identity and place identity. They have met with longstanding businesses and institutions alongside more recent start ups and research centres to gain a sense of the objects and knowledge that is produced in Loughborough, and have responded to this through a body of visual research outcomes, including a website: www.oughough.uk; and an exhibition of three billboards cited around the town of Loughborough.

From the Radar press release:

The billboard artworks are a series of ‘object studies’ that illustrate research made by designers Europa and artist illustrator Peter Nencini over the course of their commission exploring the complexities of creating identities for places and thinking about the differences between brand identity and place identity.

‘Our work in Loughborough has engaged us with thinking about identity and place and a graphic designer’s role in relation to this. Much of our time visiting Loughborough has been seeking out the unusual bits that contribute to the character of the town – the ‘ough’ and the ‘ough’ rather than the ‘L’ and the ‘bor’.’

The series of three new illustrations installed on billboards throughout Loughborough town centre are accompanied by a specially-designed website oughough.uk that contextualizes the billboard works and discusses issues surrounding identity of place and their relationship with place based branding. They provide an insight to the commission process, the research undertaken and the interactions the artists had with the people and places they encountered.

The artworks are carefully crafted compositions of found and made objects. Rather than a literal telling of the town, these groupings are suggestive and exploratory, an ‘open assemblage of living materials and cultures… identities and forms under construction.’

‘Our method of working in and understanding Loughborough has been through a method of triangulation – gaining a variety of viewpoints which allow us to build a more accurate picture of a place – and doing this through a series of organised and accidental encounters with local people.’

(Source: http://www.arts.lboro.ac.uk/radar/news/ough_ough_commission_live/?feed=2)

Radar, at Loughborough University Arts, is a contemporary arts programme inspiring participation and debate through cross disciplinary working between artists and academics. Radar engages with research and uses it as a stimulus to inform and develop new projects.

(Source: http://www.arts.lboro.ac.uk/radar/)

This output is part of a wider research project Identity, urbanism and the public realm.
Other outputs which come under this project are the following:
Identity and Place and Loughborough: item #10096
The Identity Facade: item #9902
Graphic Archaeology: item #9901

• http://oughough.uk/
• http://www.arts.lboro.ac.uk/radar/projec...
• http://www.arts.lboro.ac.uk/radar/news/o...
• http://www.arts.lboro.ac.uk/radar/
• http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/9902...
• http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/9901...
• http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/1009...