THE ESTABLISHMENT In the early 1970s, the internationally known artist, Gary Duncan was appointed by Port Clarance1 Development Corporation as Town Artist. Although keen to take up the position Gary Duncan accepted being an artist was useless to the people of Port Clarance, so he sought to act as a social explorer / creative thinker / incidental person 2. He considered it more relevant to create conditions where a collective interest in art might evolve. Rejecting the traditional role of the artist as producer of artefacts. This displeased The Development Corporation as they had hoped Gary Duncan would work on making public sculptures for the New Town’s many roundabouts and designated public spaces. A typing error in the contract between the two parties meant that The Development Corporation had inadvertently given Gary Duncan full creative control of his artistic activities. As The New Town was already grossly over budget The Development Corporation decided it could ill afford the legal fees required to rectify this problem. So they had little choice but to let Gary Duncan take up his role as Town Artist with full control of his output. This led Gary Duncan to conceive of The Better Living Society, which would provide a framework and conceptual canopy for his activities as a social explorer / creative thinker / incidental person. The naming of The 1
The new town was named Port Clarance, with the intention of attracting new residents who would, it was hoped, believe it was actually a port and thus have plenty of work. However this was never the case with the town’s employment infrastructure consistently scoring as inadequate in government surveys. Town planners had hoped this aspirational naming would function in a similar fashion as Southend on Sea in that although the town is not in fact on the sea it attracts many seaside day trippers. 2
And a bit of metropolitan wanker.
Better Living Society was in recognition of a perceived discrepancy between dream and reality. A reaction to what Gary Duncan saw to be the failure of The New Town to deliver The Development Corporation’s goal of improved lifestyle / wellbeing / living standards. The Better Living Society questioned, what is to be done? and attempted to find answers and explore living by looking at the everyday. It had the broad and vague aim of promoting better living, what that may be was undetermined and unimportant. The role of art in Gary Duncan’s idea of better living is unclear and undefined yet clearly important. The Better Living Society was founded on Henri Lefebvre’s notion that the everyday has political and philosophical significance, Gary Duncan felt it was a natural progression that the concept of lifestyle was also worthy of artistic, political and philosophical attention. In summary: lifestyle is political.
BUREAU As Town Artist, Gary Duncan was given a studio on the New Town’s high street, which he turned into The Better Living Society Headquarters / Bureau. The creation of this space was symbolic and important to the functioning of The Better Living Society. The Better Living Society Headquarters was used as a space for making Art in the scenario of a studio and a locus for the events, classes, seminars, screenings etc. that The Better Living Society hosted. The Better Living Society Headquarters also contained an archive / library / resource3 of artwork and materials that could be used to enable Better Living and promote The Better Living Societies’ ambitions. 4 3
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Gary Duncan had a keen interest in organisation and classification.
Gary Duncan was influenced by The Bauhaus, commune and scouting movements. As a child he was involved in the scouting movement and as a young man worked for a think tank associated
Gary Duncan envisioned that The Better Living Society would be franchised with other artists in other towns creating their own Better Living Society that encompassed their creative practices and promoted Better Living. Gary Duncan’s time as town Artist came and went. The Better Living society was at times successful and unsuccessful in its endeavours.
EPILOGUE At the end of his time in Port Clarance Gary Duncan proposed to celebrate The Better Living Society New Town project with a set of commemorative plates. These plates would be decorated with motivational lifestyle advice, intended to furnish residents with a source of inspiration for Better Living after The Better Living Society had terminated. It was intended that each resident would be given a plate from the collection, echoing the standardisation and uniformity of The New Town dream. Gary Duncan proposed the plates would be funded by The Development Corporation’s public Art budget. However by this time his relationship with The Development Corporation had become tumultuous primarily due to his lack of willingness to make any public with the movement. However his association with the movement ended after a dispute over the scouting uniform’s campaign hat, he felt the campaign hat had colonial connotations. He had proposed, after extensive research that the uniform should (despite a practical need) not contain a hat, as he had found it impossible to find a hat that did not convey some kind of latent ideology. His involvement with the movement briefly continued after his failed hat coup. However the final straw came during the yearly review at the 1958 jamboree when it was pointed out to him that the movement was fully aware and in fact happy with the connotations of the uniform campaign hat.
sculpture. The commemorative plate proposal was rejected on the grounds the work lacked permanence and would not be visible in public places.5 In a fit of pique Gary Duncan then submitted a second proposal that he make one oversized plate several meters high, which could be placed on any roundabout The Development Corporation saw fit. This proposal was rejected on the grounds that it was not a serious and genuine proposal for a public sculpture. Although not specified anywhere within is proposals it is a widely held belief that Gary Duncan intended the Plates to be ceramic dinner or side plates. However this belief may only be so widely held as Dinner or side plates are the most common type of plate. 6
RECORD After Gary Duncan left Port Clarance in June 1976 The Development Corporation placed the collection of Artwork and paraphernalia pertaining to The Better Living Society into permanent archive in the council’s purpose built offices. At some point the collection and paraphernalia was lost, possibly during The Council’s office relocation in 1980 after a significant part of the office collapsed after several weeks of bad weather.
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It is likely the proposal was also unsuccessful because of an incident that occurred at The Port Clarance Annual Event. For the event The Better Living Society had devised a large format board game, based on the summing up of various philosophical ideas into aphorisms. The work of Epictetus was summed up the phrase “choose your attitude.” However the town Mayor was certain he had glimpsed a similar sentiment expressed on a propaganda poster during his business trips to the former USSR. The Mayor causes a scene at the event and held all better Living Society activities in deep distrust. 6
For an alternative list of plates please refer to (LIST OF PLATES 2012). You may wish at any time to imagine the work created on a different plate, choice is after all an obligatory provision of a modern life.
An audit in 19827 listed the collection missing, suspected lost, a further audit 1990 confirmed the collection as lost meaning it was no longer in the council’s possession. Very little remains to document The Better Living Society. The Port Clarance Council website briefly mentions a Town Artist was appointed in Summer 1972, but gives no more detail. The Creative Enterprise Department have a copy of Gary Duncan’s failed proposal and consequent correspondence with The Development Corporation in their records.
RE-ESTABLISHMENT In celebration of the aims of The Better Living Society and in respectful recognition of Gary Duncan’s approach towards art and the role of creativity, The Better Living Society has been re-established with a new franchise. The Better Living Society provides a framework and conceptual canopy allowing the artist to act as creative thinker / social explorer / incidental person. As a starting point to The Better Living Society’s work, The Better Living Society’s final unfulfilled project has been realised by creating a collection of motivational plates. Little information exists on the intended specifications of the plates both in terms of content and aesthetics. Ceramic dinner and side plates have been used based on the widely held belief this is what was intended for the project. 7
It is most likely the collection was thrown out during the 1981 a synchronised redevelopment and cost cutting exercise that forced the council to turn 75% of its archive space into a staff canteen. No adequate provision had been made for a canteen facility in the original office plans, after a spate of lunch thefts and the inevitable yet unfortunate hostage situation that occurred there after and almost 10 years of lunch time pasties from Greggs the staff staged a 30 day sit in, demanding a canteen be built onsite.
Extensive research has been completed in order to realise The Better Living Society Plate Project, an atlas of philosophical and lifestyle based advice was compiled from which the most compelling phrases were chosen. In addition to this project a Better Living Society Headquarters / Bureau has been created which functions as a space for making Art and hosting events etc. An archive / library / resource is provided within the Headquarters / Bureau.