BS1 - Neville Gabie

The Promised Land

2009-11-24T20:38:00.002Z

The Promised Land is Neville Gabie's final publication in relation to Cabot Circus. The publication includes details of 'A weight of stone carried from China for you' '100% Ford Mondeo' as well as other works including a film of the launch event for the new shopping centre. The book also includes Texts by Tessa Jackson and Peter Jenkinson. Available through InSite Arts

bs1

2009-11-24T20:35:00.002Z

Funded by Arts Council England and Bristol Alliance, bs1 supported the creation of temporary works in response to Cabot Circus and Broadmead by seven international artists. Developed and managed by Neville Gabie with the support of InSite Arts, the book is also published and available through InSite Arts.

Canteen a building site cookbook

2009-11-24T20:32:00.003Z

The publication includes documentation of several meals cooked and served onsite to the workforce from around the world. In addition the recipes are all published for you to try at home. Published and available through InSite Arts

2009-11-24T20:30:00.001Z

Cabot Circus Cantata is a collaborative project by Neville Gabie, David Ogden and the City of Bristol Choir. Published and available through InSite Arts the book includes a DVD of the performance

2008-12-01T12:01:00.001Z

CANTEEN - A Building Site Recipe Book will be launched at the Pierian Centre in Portland Square, Bristol on Monday 1st December and at Harvey Nichols in Cabot Circus on Tuesday 2nd December.
Published by InSite Arts ISBN 978-0-9547300-8-6 the book is available through Harvey Nichols, The Arnolfini Bookshop and Waterstones in the Mall, Bristol. Price £15.00

2008-11-20T20:21:00.001Z

100% ford mondeo

2008-11-20T19:41:00.002Z

the kerbstone from China is now in place.

a meal for the Harvey Nichols staff

2008-09-30T15:13:00.002+01:00

The day before the new Harvey Nichols store opened its doors to the public I documented the last meal for Canteen. Over a matter of days the building site underwent a huge transformation. Builders in hig-vis jackets suddenly vanished and a whole new team of staff arrived -part of the 4,000 people who are needed to run the shops and centre. As an acknowledgement to the new staff I wanted the last meal I had prepared to be for them.
Louise is the new head Chef for Harvey Nic's and as a practice before paying customers arrived she and her team cooked a meal for other shop employees which was served by the waiters who will staff the resturant. As well as contributing a final recipe for the publication, Louise will also write an afterword about the experience of opening a new resturant in the new Cabot Circus

2008-09-30T15:11:00.003+01:00

100% Ford Mondeo - carpark site two days before opening to the public. 23rd September 2008

china stone

2008-09-30T15:00:00.003+01:00

Five days before Cabot Circus opened to the public [25th Sept 08] the granite kerbstone reached its final destination and was installed in Penn Street at the entrance to the new centre. It is bizare for me to stand on the stone and remember the landscape it once was part of in the heat and humidity of South East China. For those who are interested the text on the stone in Chinese is the title of the work - A weight of stone carried from China for you - The other texts are the location - the quarry where the stone came from, the date it was quarried and stone type as it is refered to in China.

Cabot Circus Cantata publication

2008-06-16T12:24:00.000+01:00

Cover and pages from the new Cabot Circus Cantata publication:

medieval meal at Quakers Friars

2008-06-02T20:54:00.002+01:00

Right in the middle of the development site is Quakers Friars, a 12th century friary which is a grade one listed historic monument. Unlike the rest of the development what is going on here is a very sophisticated restoration project with most of the staff being skilled stone masons, carpenters and craftsmen. Meriel, one of the architect's surveyors suggested that the most appropriate meal here would be a medieval feast which dated from the period of the buildings. Using Meriel's initial suggestions and with a great deal of research BY Leighton, the chef [the real food company] we came up with a meal which included suckling pig stuffed with eggs and Brie cheese, salmon cooked in beer and vinegar, leek pottage and elderflower cheesecake amongst other all served in 'trenchers' plates meal of stale bread.
The meal was served to about 40 staff under a tree in front of Quakers Friars on a rare sunny afternoon during the lunch break. Of all the meals this must be the most surreal, surrounded as we were with the sounds of diggers and cranes.

video clip from china

2008-05-27T12:06:00.004+01:00

a braai for Andres and Jacques

2008-05-04T16:52:00.004+01:00

Held in the car park site the Braai was planned to co-inside with the last concrete pour as a moment of celebration. We made the meal open to all and cooked for 120 people. When the ques began to assemble on the sixth floor of the car park I began to panic but it was a fantastic afternoon. The Braai includes two whole spit roast lambs, Boerewors, Mielle Tarts roast potatoes and Durban Bannana curry salad. Not only was the meal great but the preparations were spectacular too and it began by taking all the cooking equipment up to the sixth floor using a skip and the site crane.

2008-05-04T16:46:00.003+01:00

Cooked and served at Mud Dock, this recipe was selected by Derrick and Katrina- Steak and Guinness Pie with Soda Bread and a Chocolate Guinness cake.

the House of Fraser fitout team

2008-05-04T16:37:00.004+01:00

Erwin works as part of the fitout team for the House of Fraser store. He suggested a goat curry with deep fried plantain rice and 'festivals'. He also introduced me to a fantastic cook who is known just by the name Chef. Working from a kitchen in St Pauls which always has a que of customers, Chef cooked a wonderful meal which we served to twenty people inside the half built shop.

a meal with the security staff

2008-05-04T16:28:00.003+01:00

Most of the security staff on site are Nepali, why I am not sure. As seurity on site is 24 hours we had to find a moment when the site was quite and the day/night shift was changing to hold the meal. We used the site canteen [a temporary structure in what will be a carpark] and held the meal at 8pm on a Sunday night. The afternoon was spent preparing the food which was cooked by Indra-Bahador Gurung at his flat.

Cabot Circus Cantata

2008-02-23T15:41:00.004Z

2008-02-23T13:24:00.003Z

The China kerbstone has been on a detour to be included in an exhibtion at the Jerwood Space. As well as the stone a video clip of the journey was shown on a mobile phone placed on the trolley. The kerbstone id due to be installed in bristol early this summer.

2008-02-23T12:50:00.006Z

The concrete column made up of Ford Mondeo is now complete and the carpark is begining to look like a carpark

R310 RDF - The video

2008-02-07T09:53:00.001Z

scallops in garlic sauce followed by grilled swordfish

2007-12-10T14:12:00.000Z

This was the second meal we made for PHM Scaffolders, but I just could not resist the recipe and the background Sam wrote. His recipe is charged with childhood memories of growing up in the Barbican in Plymouth and for that alone it was worth cooking. After a starter of fresh scallops fried in garlic butter, we had a main course of grilled swordfish steaks with asparagus and saute potatoes. Since it was comming up to Christmas and as the meal needed to be served as soon as it was cooked, this also seemed the perfect opportunity to have the meal at Mud Dock itself. Thanks Sam for a great suggestion!

Romanian meal

2007-11-26T16:23:00.000Z

Stuffed vine leaves – Potato and ham salad

Constantin runs the site canteen with his wife and several other staff. From 7am to 4pm he is cooking breakfasts and lunch non-stop, before clearing up, ordering and preparing the food for the following day. Constantin is from Romania and I was keen to do a meal with the canteen which anyone on site could buy. His suggestion for vine leaves was great, but in order to prepare them, he and his wife spent Sunday with me in the site canteen in what is a very labour intensive meal. The result was wonderful and was quickly consumed on Monday lunchtime.

Lithuanian meal

2007-11-22T16:17:00.000Z

Beetroot soup with sour cream, and chicken potato bake.

Mantas came up with this suggestion and again it was cooked by Antoin at Mud Dock. For lunch with Mantas were three other Lithuanians, Polish and Russian site workers. The beetroot soup was the most fantastic colour and tasted great too.

Pie and mash

2007-11-08T16:08:00.000Z

The suggestion of Terry, a brick layer originally from the East End. For authenticity I went to Manze’s, an historic Pie and Mash shop on Deptford High Street. George Manze invited me to watch him preparing the pies from 5am, in a shop and according to the recipe his great grandfather first used when he opened for business 112 years ago. What a great morning and what a gentleman. Two pies, mash and Liquor were served on site to Terry and a group of his friends at lunchtime of the same day.

Cabot Circus Cantata - St James Priory

2007-10-15T11:18:00.000+01:00

Cabot Circus Cantata - onsite performance

2007-10-14T12:05:00.000+01:00

Cabot Circus Cantata

2007-10-12T16:13:00.000+01:00

Slovakian Cake

2007-10-09T16:00:00.000+01:00

Perhaps the strangest recipe to date, this cake was suggested by Eva, a document controller for Sir Robert McAlpine. The cake is a very traditional recipe from one town in Slovakia and is cooked in an open wood oven. To cook it I had the help of two wonderful French Pastry Chefs, Arnoud [2 star Michelin chef] and Richard [3 star Michelin chef] who with trial an error devised a system of cooking the cake over a home-made fire in their back garden. The pastry is wrapped around a long wooden poll, then rotated over the open fire to cook. It tasted fantastic!

Cabot Circus Cantata - invitation

2007-10-07T11:33:00.000+01:00

Ford Mondeo concrete column

2007-09-25T17:10:00.001+01:00

The full column on the third floor of the carpark has now been cast. Inside is two-thirds of the Ford Mondeo will hold up the building. The last half column will need to wait until the construction of the carpark reaches level four.

Mondeo rebar back on site

2007-09-20T16:54:00.001+01:00

From Celsa the Mondeo, now 32mm rebar, was transported to Romtech, a company which cuts and bends the steel into the right dimensions for the construction project. From there it was back to the new carpark in Bristol. Since begining the journey when I bought the car from Paul, it has traveled a total of 114 miles to its final resting place. The third and fourth floor of the carpark.
The 680 kgs of steel from the car have made enough 32mm rebar to construct one full and one half concrete columns in the carpark. After assembling the steelwork onsite, the final stage will be to fix the steelwork in place, assemble the shuttering and cast the concrete.

Polish meal

2007-09-20T15:52:00.000+01:00

Chicken spring rolls with rice croquettes

Anna Smetana works as the site secretary for Norwest Holst, builders of the new carpark site. A special person Anna’s enthusiasm for this and other projects has been an inspiration. Her Polish meal was served on site to office staff during a very hectic lunchtime.

Anzac cookies with Chris

2007-09-15T13:30:00.000+01:00

Chris is a big Aussie in every sense of the word and no matter what the weather is or how bad a day he is having, he always seems to have a great big smile and time for a chat. Chris gave me a recipe for Anzac cookies which both Sam Wilkinson and I cooked. With boxes full, we spent one sunny morning handing out cookies to anyone who wanted to try.

Portuguese meal

2007-08-31T15:45:00.000+01:00

Rabbit and smoked ham with garlic potatoes.

The meal was chosen from one of several possible contributions from staff working for PHD Scaffolders. Lunch on site was for the scaffolding crew.

Lobster and Black Bean Sauce - a recipe from Belize

2007-08-30T13:42:00.000+01:00

Richard gave me his recipe for lobster and black bean sauce, a dish which in Belize is cheap and tastes wonderful. Once again we prepared the meal at Mud Dock, but with the cost of lobster in the UK, this was a meal for a select few. The lobster was served with egg fried rice and a side salad. Richard, a carpenter on site, previously worked as a nutritional scientist, so food is something he takes a keen interest in.

Cabot Circus Cantata - song contributions

2007-08-26T11:04:00.000+01:00

Mahandra, from Nepal

Simeon, from Bulgaria

Mr Singh, Punjabi

Raymond Henry

R310 RCF – at the steelworks

2007-08-25T13:58:00.001+01:00

The 680 kgs of Ford Mondeo arrived at Celsa in Cardiff on the back of a skip truck. The next stage is melting the car down and casting the steel into billets. My first worry was how to track the Ford through the whole process, but in fact it was very easy. As soon as the metal from the car was lifted into the cast pot it is given a cast number which will stay with this batch of steel forever. The whole plant in Cardiff is sophisticatedly computerised with ever bit of steel tracked throughout the whole process. What an amazing place! Dressed in heavy [and very hot] woolen fire retardent clothing, earpulgs, boots and helmet, I went into the plant. Even with the earplugs the noise, smoke and flames are overwhelming. We tracked the car being melted and cast into steel billets. From here the billets will be taken to the rod-mill.

R310 RDF – at the scrap yard

2007-08-23T13:35:00.001+01:00

The car drove like a dream to the scrap yard in Newport. Simms Metals is a huge place with the biggest 'frag' plant, or shredder in the world. Simms could not have been more helpful. I filmed them de-polute the car and stip it down ready for fragging. They then stopped all their work on the frag plant and cleared the whole machine so we could process the car and collect all the metal. Once the car began making it's way up the conveyor to the shredder, it took a matter of minutes before it was comming out the other end in little pieces. In total the Mondeo was converted into 680kgs of ferrous metal.

R310 RCF – collecting the car from Paul

2007-08-21T16:58:00.001+01:00

Frod Mondeo Estate, bought on Ebay from Paul who lives in Bristol, only a few miles from the site. This car has a Bristol story already. The day after Paul bought the car himself, it was involved in an accident with a Bristol bus and was a write-off. But the engine is sound, I have managed to insure it, and the next thing is to drive to to the scrap yard in Newport.

2007-07-20T13:08:00.001+01:00

2007-07-20T13:00:00.001+01:00

I thought spending six nights ans seven days on a train would be a painful experience but in fact it was fantastic. The train crosses Northern China, Siberia and Russia at such a leasurely speed that the landscape unfolds with an unassuming drama just beyond the glass. I spent much of my time trying to draw the vanishing horizon lines on the train window with a marker pen. It is only now that I am back that I am able to see video clips of some of that.

Punjabi meal

2007-07-16T15:36:00.000+01:00

Today 45 Punjabi site workers [all involved with pouring concrete] came to have a Punjabi meal for lunch. The cooking of the food and even serving the meal would have been impossible without Sachdev's help. His aunt cooked the meal on Sunday at her home in Hayes and on Monday morning we drove down to Bristol, where in great haste we heated up the food before serving it in the information centre. The whole thing was a fantastic success and a great way to start the recipe project.

China stone diary

2007-07-09T18:16:00.002+01:00

I never knew getting onto a ferry could be such hard work, but pushing 150kgs of granite up the walking ramp onto the ship nearly killed me. The trolley is also on its last legs. The steel is bent and almost in two pieces just above the wheels. almost back

China stone diary

2007-07-07T18:15:00.001+01:00

Moscow in the rain. Today I have been walking the city with the stone. Tonight I get another train - two days and nights to Cologne.

China stone diary

2007-07-06T18:14:00.001+01:00

The trains progress through Siberia is slow, but the journey is never boring. I think because you know you are on the train for a week, you just settle into the rhythm. The resturant car now only serves Russian food and I am getting very used to Borscht and over the days I have made a few friends of other passengers. Every few hours the train reaches a station where it might stop for half an hour. It is a chance to go for a walk or buy some food. After the experience of the customs these last few days have been a joy. My next worry is Moscow. I arrive at a different station from where I will leave and I have a couple of days wait. The stone, trolley and I will be doing some walking!

China stone diary

2007-07-02T18:11:00.001+01:00

At 4am this morning we reached the Chinese border, a town called Manzhouli. Gradually we made our way through a kind of no-mans-land before reaching the Russian side. After 36 hours on the train I had begun to relax and I had no idea what a horrendous day was ahead. It began with the Russian border guards boarding the train to check our papers. Although I had letters from Stonepave, Dawa Stone and Bristol Alliance explaining my work and giving a value for the stone, it was not enough to satisfy the customs officials. They insisted I take the stone off the train and to their offices. Much easier said then done! The stone weighs 150kgs and there was no station platform. That meant manhandling the stone down the train corridor before lifting it down about 7 ft from the train to the ground. Completely impossible on my own! Eventually I managed to find two Russian students on the train who helped me. The began 5 hours of following custom officials from one office to another. Once again I struch lucky when I met a young Russian border guard, Sergi, who spoke very good English and tried to help steer me through the complexities of Russian officialdom. He was a great help, but not enough to prevent me being ripped off! With Sergi's help I filled out the paperwork. I was then told that customs understood the stone had no value, but it would take one day to process. If I wanted to wait they would do it, but it would mean missing my train. I could wait for a week for another train, or I could pay! A 'customs official' then escorted me to a bank in town where I could use my card for cash. I handed him the equivalent of £100 and without any more forms, I found myself back on the train! What a long day - the train had hardly left the station and I was ready to sleep.

China stone diary

2007-07-01T18:10:00.001+01:00

The Beijing - Moscow train I took goes around Mongolia before meeting the Vladivostock - Moscow line. It then goes right across Siberia. My First morning on the train was a chance to look around. The train is old an never travels at more then about 60kms. I am in a 2 person compartment on my own as I have had to pay for a birth for the stone. At the end of the carriage there is a very basic toilet with cold water to wash and further down the train a resturant which until we cross the border, serves Chinese food only. Most people on thr train seem to be Chinese, although there are a few Russians and one or two back - packers.

China stone diary

2007-06-30T23:30:00.001+01:00

What an amazing day, which could so easily been a disaster! The train for Moscow was due to leave from Beijing at 11.30pm tonight, so I had the whole day to spend in the city. Leah, who works for Stonepave put me in touch with a friend of hers in Beijing, who very kindly gave up her day to show me around the city. She also said she would help me at the railway station. To my great surprise to two drivers who brought me from Xiamen also came to help me onto the train. I had no idea how much I would need their help. We arrived at Beijing railway station in the pouring rain and I was in for a shock. The station was packed, the noise was imense and there was not a single sign I could read. Mr Xue, all 5ft4" of him, but as strong as an ox, pushed the stone on its trolley into the station, up escalators, along corridors, down stairways through crowds of people and eventually manhandled it onto the train. The trolley was worse for the experience, but without him to move the stone and Sarah to find out where to go, I think I would have ended up in Beijing forever. When the train finally rolled out of the station I was an emotional wreck. Foolishly I thought things would now be plain sailing for six days and six nights to Moscow, but I could not have been more wrong.

China stone diary

2007-06-29T18:07:00.001+01:00

Another service station, our last morning. We should arrive in Beijing by early afternoon. Before I say goodbye to my drivers I wanted a photograph.

China stone diary

2007-06-28T18:05:00.001+01:00

a

Another very hot and steamy day and today we begin the drive from Xiamen to Beijing. The journey by road will take two days and two nights. There are two drivers, neither of whom speak any English. They will take turns driving so that we can make the trip non-stop. Our first night on the road was very dramatic as we drove through a huge electric storm with the whole skyline or steep sided mountains being thrown into light with each flash. With no English my two drivers could not be nicer, helping me navigate my way through the self service meals at our stops, and making sure I am comfortable on the road.

China stone diary

2007-06-26T17:57:00.001+01:00

The kerbstone was taken to another factory today where the text is going to be put onto the surface. In Chinese it will say 'a weight of stone carried from China for you' It will aslo have the code for the stone type - G654 and the date cut into the surface. Candy arranged all this again and by the end of the day the kerbstone had been wrapped and packed ready for the journey home.

China stone diary

2007-06-25T18:21:00.001+01:00

This morning we met Rayliegh who has been arranging the cutting at the factory to make my kerbstone. Once again the factory was at least a two hour drive in the same direction. What is amazing however, was the huge scale of quarrying going on in the area. Everywhere you look there is stone in different stages of preparation. Every truck seems to be moving stone, every available piece of ground, covered with blocks of the stuff.

The factory we stopped at was like very many we had seen along the road, but once inside I was surprised by how organised it appeared to be. Under an expansive roofed building with open sides, areas were separated off for different processes. At one end of the building, massive blocks of stone were gradually being hoisted onto the saw beds – including eventually the granite block we brought down the mountainside to cut my kerbstone from. Looking towards the other end of the building I could see many of the finished products. This was not the kind of sweat shop image I imagined, but something far more efficient with almost everyone I saw wearing safety gear.

Talking to Kevin on the way back to the hotel he told me that being a British company and a prime market for Chinese stone, they could insist on very high safety standards throughout the process and on all staff being of legal working age. Another reason why he and his staff visit the quarries and factories on such a regular basis.

Destination- Bristol – n51-27-466
W002-35-052

China stone diary

2007-06-23T17:20:00.002+01:00

Karaoke! Never again.

China stone diary

2007-06-22T17:19:00.001+01:00

Quarry – n24-40-111
E117-50-403
At 8am we were met by Candy from the Dawa Stone Company. She has made the arrangements locally to document my kerbstone being cut from the quarry face. We began by driving for perhaps two hours heading inland. That makes it sound as if we travelled a great distance, but with the roads in places being little more then riverbeds and mountain paths, were probably no more than 50 miles from Xiamen. Eventually we began driving up a steep mountain road through a tropical landscape of banana plants and green lakes. My first big surprise was that the quarry was not the hole in the ground I expected, but a natural granite outcrop on the top of a mountain. We had to walk the last part in heat it would be hard to describe. Simply stepping out of the car was enough without a half hour hike. Unbelievably Candy had managed to get permission for me to film the quarrying of the kerbstone. I don’t remember being so exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel, but what a worthwhile day.

China stone diary

2007-06-21T23:17:00.001+01:00

After a very short hop from Hong Kong, perhaps 40mins, we are in Xiamen. It is dark and very late, but you cannot escape the immense humidity and the sounds and smells of an almost tropical landscape. First thing tomorrow morning we go to the quarry?

China stone diary

2007-06-20T12:15:00.001+01:00

I met Kevin Hives [Stonepave] at Heathrow airport who is accompanying me to China. We are flying via Hong Kong to Xiamen and with the time difference should arrive late at night on the 21st. Kevin has made arrangements to go to the quarry where my stone is being cut, but that is the most difficult part to plan. The quarries are all owned and run by the Chinese government, so it is very much out of his hands. I am not quite sure what to expect, but as we wait for the plane to take off I am filled with anticipation.

China proposal – A journey to collect a granite kerbstone from China for installation in Broadmead.

2007-02-16T12:24:00.001Z

As well as being built by a workforce from over fifty different nations, the materials used to construct the new Cabot centre are procured and processed from right around the world. There are people involved directly in the building of a new city centre for Bristol who are unlikely ever to see it. Likewise, once the buildings are complete and functioning, all those people so intimately involved will soon be forgotten.

The intention is to trace the journey of one Kerbstone from quarry face in China to installation in Broadmead. I propose making a trip to China, visiting and recording the quarry and factory, – acquiring one single Kerbstone, inscribed in some way [yet to be determined] by those involved. The stone will then be brought back to Bristol overland by train and truck by me.

Once in Bristol the Kerbstone will be installed in the street [site to be determined] – a touchstone for those who notice. In addition the documented journey will exist as a record of the process of one single element in the whole development.

The kerbstones, though very visible, are probably one of the most mundane elements in the scheme as a whole. How often have you looked down when you are crossing the street and thought about what you are standing on? And yet in the refurbished streets around Broadmead you are likely to be standing on a very small piece of China. The granite used in Broadmead is G654 and is from the Jia Jhing quarry in the Fujian Province of China.

Although the intention is to respond creatively, there are serious issues which underpin this idea; Issues of sustainability and social responsibility when sourcing material from very different countries and cultures.

This whole journey has been made possible by Kevin Hives of Stonepave UK who are the contract suppliers for Broadmead. They are arranging access to the quarry which is owned by the Chinese government and to their factories in China. Without their fantastic support this project would not be possible.