"Bloody Hell, Come On, Get In Here!" Nenagh Watson on Art, space and Keeping It Real
We caught up with puppeteer and multimedia artist Nenagh Watson about her involvement in The Generator's early community consultations and her hopes for the space
Nenagh Watson doesn't mince words. A puppeteer and multimedia artist who spent 30 years pushing boundaries in Manchester, she's exactly the kind of creative The Generator was designed to serve. When the project was still in its consultation phase, Nenagh was one of the voices championing space for local artists – and she's got some strong opinions about what the venue should become.
Colin Salsbury, interviewed by Pasha Kincaid
I've heard you were part of the "firing up the generator" process. Can you tell us about that?
Nenagh: Oh, that was really fab! There were these architects there who were working with us, and you had to share your thoughts and hopes for The Generator. Paul was there too – he's a really cool gent. He was drawing and filling all these cardboard boxes with drawings. I think the previous days they'd built structures with them, and Paul was filling them with his artwork.
The two architects – I can't remember their names, I think they might have been from Holland – they were really great, quite cool actually. They really wanted to get from people what everybody wanted for the space.
It sounds like you were quite passionate about getting into that building!
Nenagh: laughs I can remember champing at the bit because there's this amazing building and all this faffing around, trying to find a way it could happen. I just sort of wanted to squat it, you know? I was an artist without space and I just thought, "Bloody hell, come on, get in here!"
But of course, one has to be grown up – there's a process. The university owned the building and we didn't want to rock the boat. But I remember Jumped Up Rat, which was a Liverpool group. I lived in Manchester for 30 years and used to pop over to Liverpool, and they were fantastic. They'd squatted this warehouse and did amazing exhibitions. So I think I got that buzz around The Generator.
What was your main vision for the space?
Nenagh: Just space for artists to work and create things, really. And for it to be very focused on local artists. I couldn't understand – with the fantastic art school we've got here – why there didn't seem to be any space for them afterward.
I remember the Vanilla Gallery – do you remember the Vanilla Cafe? I bloody loved that space because it was artist-run. It was a shop, and they just had these pop-up exhibitions. I thought it was terrific – these young artists just thinking, "Sod the funding, let's just hire a shop and do exhibitions." That kind of buzz was in the room during those Generator consultations too.
Tell us about your practice as an artist.
Nenagh: Oh, bloody hell – I'm a puppeteer! In Manchester, I had a company called Do Court, and I worked with my then partner who's a painter. We mixed puppetry and paint, and we looked at multimedia before it was so ubiquitous now. We were doing really funky things.
I remember we got an episcope – we had it imported from Czechoslovakia, this great big bloody thing. You could put things on it and throw them up onto the wall, so you could do live filming. We were really pushing the art form of puppetry for an adult audience. In the 90s, I thought, "Well, we've got nothing to lose, so let's !^&$ing go for it." And we did.
As someone who spans many disciplines, what do you see as the potential in The Generator?
Nenagh: Well, I hope it doesn't get too gentrified. I can remember punk, you know – that energy. I hope that some filth goes into The Generator and some really edgy stuff would be fantastic.
It must be exciting to know there's such a vibrant community of artists ready to use the space.
Nenagh: It really is exciting! I mean, I was always looking for venues for my work. Thirty years ago I would have been knocking on the door saying, "Will you take Do Court?"
You know, it's never too late though. Clyde's still doing away, isn't she? The dancer? She's doing work at 70 – very lovely work.
Any final thoughts on your vision for The Generator?
Nenagh: I just think it's brilliant that it's been bought by the company that owns it now. I just hope it gets all the support so it can keep going.
