Some many years back now working for Vox newspaper I was fortunate to be given a freedom to write articles which were not necessarily part of the Main Street news scene. Yes I am a reporter, at present a sports reporter, but at one time I was in main stream news. Vox newspaper happens to have been a period between two online news media projects which were somewhat advanced for their times in Gibraltar. Online news media services that worked on a 24/7 roaming news ideology providing news reports, audio, images and video, but that might be a story for another day. Twice I tried, twice I to let go. But as I say it’s a story for another day.
Returning to what this post is about. Vox provided me with a freedom in which I, probably, for the first time, merged my reporting with my art in some articles. A series of articles based on ideas which could, I believed, had a practical benefit for Gibraltar. Ideas which were later taken onboard by some people I knew in politics and which turned out to see the refurbishment of Europa Point, the first step towards a large park in Queensway and a couple of residential development projects. They weren’t the most original ideas, after all they were ideas which for many years people had spoken about yet nobody had ever openly put them on paper. When I did, first for the newspaper and then for a political party’s manifesto the ideas were taken forward by the same people who believed enough in them to stake their political careers in pushing them forward at an election.
This was probably the first time that I realised that in the world we live in art is probably among the first steps towards things happening. The visualisation of ideas usually leads to them being put into practise. It also made me realise that if you have the capacity to visualise an idea and can put it down on paper then you have a strong and valuable tool through which you can influence towards ideas one day becoming a reality, even if someone else does it and takes the credit.
The important thing for me is not who takes credit but what added value can your ideas provide to better the community you live in.
This is why since those days I sometimes delve into producing artwork which outlines some conceptual idea such as the floating city concept or the vertical farming concept.
The ideas sometimes seem far fetched but they are not just pretty designs put on paper. They are actually researched ideas based on what is practical and realistic to produce.
The floating city concept originated from the production of an initial design for the reclamation of west side/harbour area. These in itself, which is actually a multi-million pound project, is a project based on ideas which once existed for Euro city, the extension of the present Westside reclamation. My designs, by merely showing how it could work questions why it had not yet been followed through. This in itself led to many a discussion with experts who highlighted the cost of reclamation, especially considering that the Port would have to be moved further out into the bay.
With one thing leading onto another and a sudden interest in what was emerging in other countries such as floating development and sea steading I started looking at how the reclamation could go out into the sea but without the reclamation. This turned into the hexagonal city.
Based on Dutch ideas where houses are being floated on water, a Chinese project to create a city in the sea and sea steading projects the idea was becoming somewhat of an obsession for me.
It also brought me to learn new things about sustainability. From the creation of power sources through use of solar power, tidal currents and wind power, to the fact something called cloud harvesting existed where water is collected from the humidity in the air. It also brought me to the third conceptual idea, vertical farming. Something which, especially today, I believe would benefit Gibraltar as it would provide a sustainable way of producing produce in what is a limited space. We might not be able to have farms like in Spain or Uk, you know the picturesque ones, but you sure can grow vegetables, fruits and plants in stacks. A project which I have learnt now could be even easier to develop through the use of container modules which are already available in the marketplace with all the necessary resources included within.
Similarly the floating city project has the potential to not only provide Gibraltar with a new industry producing modules for the base which would then be developed upon, it could also provide a new export market in which you could literally export whole cities. One floating piece at a time developed through some clever use of 3D construction printing which would ensure plans are build exactly to specifications with not much use of land which we have not got.
The important thing about these projects, was to ensure that they were taken seriously by those looking at them and to ensure they are not just little sketches on the back of a note book. Instead using the tools available, from 3D modelling to graphics, digital publishing and DTP skills the conceptual ideas were presented as professionally as I could, given the tools I had at my disposal.
So you probably asking why am I highlighting all these, just to give myself a plug and boast about what I am capable of doing. Of course, why not, why can’t this be one of the reasons after all this is a blog about my interest, views and ideas in art, mainly my art. However, the point which I’m putting across is how easy it can be for an artist, or like I prefer calling it, a creative, to influence and provide ideas which can better our world. Instead of keeping the ideas inside a sketchbook which is hidden away somewhere nobody will see. Because yes most artists will create ideas and leave them in their sketchbooks and not show anyone.
Artists can keep hundreds of sketchbooks, produce countless of sketches and ideas but most tend to stay hidden away in a corner of a room. These are actually worthless ideas, because unless someone sees them or does something with them they are just marks on a piece of paper or a digital sketch in a hard drive. Yet artists are usually the ones who visualise new things which can become practical and valuable contributions to our society.
We can’t always, we’ll truthfully it’s rare, to benefit from ideas conceived in your sketchbook unless you have very good “padrinos” or good agents looking after you, or you happen to be incredibly influential. Yet that does not mean your ideas are worthless, and even sketchbooks should be shown publicly or turned into personal projects such as the ideas I have highlighted above.
Maybe in ten, twenty, fifty years time someone will actually create one of mine, who knows.
You can check out the reclamation project at
https://issuu.com/stephen-ignacio
stephenignacioart 
Leave a comment