The 1972 Project

Making work about the period from the last moon landing to my 50th birthday.

November 2019 - ongoing

The coronavirus pandemic has, of course, thrown numerous spanners in the works, not least rendering my brain incompetent during most of 2020. I do plan to revive this project though.

The 1972 Project is the overarching title of work I will be making between November 2019 and September 2022.

I was born in 1972 and the date has haunted me throughout my life, appearing on IDs, forms and drop-down menus. Yet I have no memory of that year and no real sense of what happened in that era because I was a baby.

Thinking this a curious thing I decided to explore 1972 both as the seed of myself but also as the seed of my world. It turns out that it’s quite plausible to see the early 70s as a turning point in western society and it tracks nicely with my growing up.

My 1972 artworks will evolve and iterate over the next three years resulting in something around the date of my 50th birthday. This feels like a more interesting thing to do that a mid-life crisis.

The works will be documented here.

1972 version 0.1

November 2019

A short film made to start the project, ensuring that it begins. Screened at The Magic Cinema, Artefact, November 27th 2019

Most of Stoned Moon

December 2019

A digital collage for the Artefact Xmas Show, 5-21 December.

ARPANET and the Hippies (working title)

cancelled due to pandemic but hope to revive in some form

A five week exhibition at Artefact, Stirchley, of materials gathered during research into Stewart Green’s influence on the development of the Internet.

The final work

September 2022

I have no idea what form this will take. If you are an arts organisation (or similar) and are interested in hosting / exhibiting / supporting the final work in this project, please get in touch.

Bookmarks

All web materials gathered for this project are bookmarked on Pinboard under the tag 1972_project.