Residents across Picton will go to the polls this Friday (15 July) when they cast their vote on what to name a patch of ‘unloved’ land on Wellington Road.

The event is part of Metal Liverpool’s ‘Meanwhile Space’ project which encourages artistic collaboration to reanimate lesser used and unloved spaces in our everyday environment.

Over the last three months, artist’s Marcus Coates, Neville Gabie and Cristina Lina have undertaken residencies in the area to highlight the issue of these often forgotten spaces.

The three artists have already made their mark on Wellington Road’s ‘Meanwhile Space’, turning it into a field of hand painted signs, each suggesting a different name for the site from the community, all designed by residents.

The recycling of these signs will provide the community with their polling booth as they take the next step in seizing the land from anonymity and occasional fly-tipping.

The new name for the grassy corner of Wellington Road, which is dominated by a bus shelter, will be revealed on Saturday (16 July) with the residents themselves addressing the ‘electorate’ as returning officers and keynote speakers.

Shaun Curtis, director of Metal Liverpool, says: “We and the artists all share the drive to make exciting things happen in public space and if we are able to help reduce any underlying problems that might be linked with those spaces, even better.

“We selected Wellington Road based on its potential for creating interesting art, having met many interested and interesting people and groups there, such as the Harthill Youth Club and the local residents.

“The focus of the project is a very visible ‘meanwhile space’, so in changing discussion around it, empowering people to look at its possibilities differently, we might succeed in showing many other people what is possible.”

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