CALTHWAITE MONOPOLY
Calthwaite | 2007–2008

A village-scale art project using an invented local game system, an A–Z Community Chest, large paper play pieces, bronze and mosaic markers, photography and film.

Calthwaite Monopoly was a village-scale participatory art project developed in 2007–2008.

Daused the structure of a familiar board game to gather local knowledge and competing ideas of value. An A–Z Community Chest became a series of textile banners. Large paper-based silver play pieces were selected by village poll as symbols of local heritage. Polaroid cameras travelled from house to house to record the built environment. Four bronze and mosaic works marked the village ‘stations’. A film considered the railway and the M6, which cuts through the settlement.

The project unfolded through workshops, small events and a final village installation and gathering.

It combined consultation with clear artistic authorship. The invented system allowed a village to see its own geography, divisions and memories rearranged.