Fittingly for an exhibition of work made from materials costing no more than 99p (see rules to the left), these enterprising first years have negotiated a free short-term lease on the old Music Library, which has been empty for several years.
This is a wonderful space: I think I enjoyed being inside this stately and dilapidated building as much as I enjoyed the work on display.
Jeffrey Cervantes: Three Falling
Carianne Whitworth: Fabrication
Well done to all the students whose work is featured in the 99p Exhibition - there are some excellent pieces, and the spirit of the project is very in keeping with the times - yo, the zeitgeist!
Congratulations are in order too for bringing the old Music Library back into use, albeit temporarily. Empty property is one of my personal bugbears, and there's lots of it in Brighton.
Happily, there's also a long and illustrious history of squatting in Brighton. Local hero Harry Cowley commandeered empty houses for servicemen returning from both World Wars, and now groups like Slack Space Brighton are working across the city to identify empty property which could be used for short-term creative projects.
The shortage of affordable workspace is a real problem for the creative industries in Brighton & Hove, a sector which employs around 10% of the city's workforce, and which generates millions annually for the local economy.
Brighton has about 20 organisations of various sizes offering space to artists (the largest being the 55 studio Phoenix Arts Association, of which I'm one of the Trustees), but there is nowhere near enough cheap studio space to satisfy the growing demand.
Earlier this year, the Guardian ran a story on a growing movement of artists transforming empty high street shops into galleries and studios. At the same time, Brighton & Hove council officers were working on trying to come up with practical solutions to meet the city's need for more affordable creative workspace, including looking at models used by artist-led projects in London.
But is the political will there to actually do anything to bring empty property back into use in Brighton & Hove? Green councillors called on the Tory Administration in February to produce an audit of empty property across the city: the Tories rejected it out of hand.
We'll keep calling for action on disused buildings in Brighton & Hove, but it the meantime it seems that direct action may be the most effective solution to the problem of buildings being left to rot while so many people are crying out for space in which to produce work. Go first year students and Slack Space Brighton!
