Tailor Made for Bus Service 71

Public artists Jayne Murray & Alisha Miller are working with Travel West Midlands, one of the regions’ biggest bus operators, to redesign the seating fabric specifically for the number 71 bus service.Between Monday, 18th April and Wednesday, 25th May the artists will be making a series of interventions on the bus and along the route.A press conference will be called during this period.The first intervention will be the covering of the seats in white to create a blank canvas. This process will be repeated five times; the covers being removed in between and any marks made by the passengers’ presence will be embroidered, each time in a different colour.A pattern will begin to emerge as the embroidery accumulates. The unique approach taken by Murray & Miller will result in an ongoing visual dialogue with passengers based on their own actions and comments in response to the canvas.It provides an alternative means to consultation and exploring how a social fabric is made.Murray & Miller will also be working off the bus to extend the work into the social fabric of the route.The roots of transport seating fabric lie in the bus industry’s military and engineering history. The design of the fabric has not received a great deal of consideration in the past and the artists created this opportunity to examine this often overlooked space that contributes considerably to one of our everyday experiences.The engaged work will form the basis of a final design to be woven later in the year in Yorkshire.They will create one design specifically for the 71 that is stimulating and deals with the issues of travelling on that bus. Phil Bateman Corporate Affairs Director said: "This is a unique and very different way that we are approaching the design of fabric that will form the seating on the 71."These artists will we hope attract not only the interest of our passengers, but also will show how art can be used in very practical ways." The artists have been working with Travel West Midlands since September 2004 and are supported by Arts Council England - West Midlands, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and Birmingham City Council Arts Team.

Published 14th April 2005