Summary of the impact

Professor John Hyatt's (1991-present) work as a researcher, artist and theorist has led to civic development and regeneration and has contributed to the branding of city space. As a practicing artist, he has pursued trans disciplinary research projects which have influenced his collaborators' practices and public understanding. He has achieved impact as a curator through large-scale, multi-agency, international projects, which have led to sustainable collaborative and transformative cultural links between UK and Asia. Impact has been realised through contributions to the field, attitudinal shifts, public awareness, external project funding, sizeable economic investment from home and abroad, international cultural exchange and contributions to civic policy and regeneration strategies.

Underpinning research

Hyatt's research into art, technology and urban change has deliberately played a `long-game' to achieve embedded and sustainable impact. In the 1990s, Hyatt and Professor Margaret Harrison (MMU 1996-2003) negotiated a memorandum of understanding with the University of Barcelona to research civic identity and cultural interventions (The Public Art Observatory). Hyatt was the consultant for Manchester's 1997 Public Art Strategy. Example underpinning publications are experiments in regenerative urban cultural activism [1].

Hyatt devised and co-Directed ISEA98 (the 9^th International Symposium of Electronic Arts) which was hosted in both Liverpool and Manchester. ISEA98 was organised in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University and FACT and was acknowledged as the first UK two-city arts event and a unique collaboration between two universities and a cultural agency. Design Week called it, `undoubtedly the big daddy of electronic exhibitions' (http://www.designweek.co.uk/news/digital-art- makes-its-presence-felt/1102399.article) with two international conferences and over a hundred exhibiting artists and a 50/50 financial contribution from Manchester City Council (MCC). Themes of technological and social `Revolution' and `Terror' sprang from Hyatt's research [2]. Engaging new technologies, effects upon identity, privacy, liberation and repression, ISEA98 received commendation in RAE 2001. ISEA98 initiated a continuing close relationship between partners, made the UK a global focus of new technologists and added £2m in value to the regional economy. Here, it is fore-grounded as this is where Hyatt first developed his impact methodology for bringing research on social change and the urban into the public realm through large-scale, multi-stranded, multi-agency art events.

In 1999, Hyatt installed competition-winning, five x 20m tall, bespoke, motorised, stainless steel public sculptures, Manchester's Tilted Windmills in Exchange Square, Manchester, regenerating the site of IRA terrorist bombing. Still in situ with 95 million viewings to date from Manchester City Council figures of 20,000 daily visits [A and 3]. Manchester's Exchange Square was featured in Groundswell, MOMA, NY, 2005, as one of the top 23 global examples of urban regeneration.

Whilst a board member of Manchester's Cultural Industries Development Service (CIDS), a pioneering public, private partnership focused on the rise of the city's creative economy , Hyatt co-authored (2003) the Vision for Manchester's historic Oxford Road [4] with the Director of Cornerhouse, Manchester's Director of Culture and the University of Manchester's Director of Regional and Economic Affairs. Based on Hyatt's research of international models, it identified a strategy to make a place from a space. He authored Avenue of the Giants, 2003 [5], Oxford Road's first public art strategy and identified `Revolution' and `Innovation' as key themes for Mancunian civic identity. In 2004, Hyatt contributed to Manchester's official `Original Modern' identity and advised the City of New York and an EU report on successful regeneration strategies through culture. In 2006, The Guardian recognised Hyatt's impact, `breaking down barriers — between universities and cities, galleries within cities, cities and other cities' (In Arnot, C., `John Hyatt: The punk professor: Chris Arnot meets a musician turned academic whose anarchic approach has ignited the Manchester arts scene', The Guardian, 11 04 2006) newspaper interview: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2006/apr/11/highereducationprofile.academicexperts

In 2007, Hyatt curated three exhibitions showcasing the best of UK art and design in China whilst undertaking research into the global effects of technological revolutions: All Go Digital at Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing); Made in Manchester, Chinese Profile Art Museum (Xiamen); Manchester — Our Tradition is Innovation, Art Museum, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. These exhibitions were cited as `the best exhibitions ever presented by a UK HE institution' by the British Council (South China).

All of these examples of Hyatt's research have impact embedded from the outset. Hyatt's work is co-designed and delivered with national and international partners across the public and private sectors in order to elicit the maximum cultural, economic and environmental response. This approach has been carried forward into Hyatt's later work, including "State Legacy ", a major international exhibition dealing with themes of industrial revolution, taking place in China and Manchester [6] which is covered within the impact section and timeframe of this case study.

References to the research

Grants to indicate research quality:

• Manchester's Tilted Windmills: £90K Manchester Millennium Ltd.

• ISEA98: £62K Economic Initiatives Group, City of Manchester, demonstrating the city's endorsement of its economic importance.

• State Legacy: £30K from ACE; £55K income from OCAT; 5K British Council and 5K Manchester Knowledge Capital.

Details of the impact

The Oxford Road Vision influenced Manchester's economic and cultural development policy: `The sense of place and public realm is vital to attract and retain high-calibre staff and businesses to the area, to lead to re-investment and potential Foreign Direct Investment. Societal value is also provided to surrounding communities, students and visitors' (taken from Manchester's 2009 Strategic Vision). Hyatt's work inspired the formation of the Corridor Manchester partnership, the first of its kind in the UK, bringing together Manchester City Council, the University of Manchester, MMU and the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to develop the 243-hectare area originally identified by Hyatt. http://www.corridormanchester.com/about-us says, `We anticipate ... capital investments up to 2020 ... over £2.5 billion (mostly through private sector finance)'. The Corridor Manchester partners as well as Bruntwood, Cornerhouse (Cinema and Gallery), Manchester Science Parks and Arup invested evenly throughout the REF period 2008-2013 (£1,739,586). As Phase 1 of a £5m project, impact can be evidenced through the leverage of European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) monies to support Public Realm (2010-12) improvements to over 25,000 sq metres. Hyatt's Oxford Road Vision and the accompanying Avenue of Giants documents changed institutional practices and policies and gave Manchester's Oxford Road a revitalised sense of place and cultural identity. The Director of Manchester Digital Development Agency confirms Hyatt's role in the Oxford Road's redevelopment, "Professor John Hyatt has worked tirelessly and deliberately to have a real impact upon the City of Manchester and promoting its image (and reality) as a global city, collaborating and competing with the best of international centres and with local innovation initiatives in partnership with ourselves. His research into the history of Manchester as a site of revolutionary thought ...(he) went onto incorporate into his Vision for Oxford Road, describing the road as the birthplace of revolutionary thought and making that history open to the public through appearances on local radio and in the press to promote a vision for the road's development. John presented also to the City Council and the North West Development Agency and his clarity was influential in the adoption of plans to develop the road. He gave a new idea for the road." [B]

Hyatt utilised this sense of `place' as a catalyst for collaborative projects to demonstrate increased global reach and cultural impact. Bringing together his underpinning ISEA98 methodology and his research in China, Hyatt delivered another multi-agency international event, State Legacy: Research in the Visualisation of Political History, with Cornerhouse Gallery in 2009. State Legacy was a large exhibition of contemporary Chinese art, in Shenzhen, China, and along Manchester's Oxford Road Corridor at Cornerhouse. Co-curated with Huang Zhuan, Director of OCT in Shenzhen, with commissioned works from Lu Hao, Sui Jianguo, Wang Guangyi, Wang Jianwei, and Zeng Li, artists entered public forums and enhanced understanding of cultural diversity. Popular press reported, `Spread over two sites, the results are visually striking and have a lasting resonance, even for viewers without any knowledge of China's history or culture' (Metro, 09/04/09). Consulting engineers on the Beijing Olympic stadium, Arup provided free IT support, became full partners in the project and benefited from the cultural exchange opportunities that were developed [C]. Xu Wang (Beijing Olympics) provided the branding and over 9,000 visitors visited the exhibition [D]. A competition enabled a UK artist to undertake a funded residency in China. A full programme of public engagement events at Cornerhouse including evening classes on Chinese history and culture, public seminars, photographic workshops and children's events accompanied State Legacy. Hyatt used a guided tour to delegates of the MIRIAD-hosted Association of Art Historian's conference to create a podcast to disseminate the curatorial vision behind the exhibition [E]. State Legacy also generated important economic connections within the private sector through a special North West Business Insider breakfast linking Chinese and UK-based business leaders. A 571pp bilingual academic publication was produced.

Talking about the impact of the exhibition in Manchester, the Director of Cornerhouse corroborates, "The show was a major success and a UK first and that presented previously unseen works by five prominent contemporary Chinese artists. The exhibition featured new commissions responding to the achievements and problems of China's recent industrialisation and modernisation, generating debate about the role of art in post-industrial societies. It was well attended (over 9,000 visits) and well reviewed. State Legacy revived the connection between Manchester School of Arts and Cornerhouse leading to our mutual engagement with the Asia Triennial." [D] (see ATM case study).

In China, the audience was carefully developed and 50 scholars, media and critics attended the Shenzhen seminar. China News Weekly reported that it `set a milestone example for curating which used a reflective attitude to political history and art'. New Weekly described it as `exhibition of the year', and `...an academic event that was influential amongst intellectuals'. A symposium at Hexiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, was attended by 15 Chinese art critics, philosophers, artists, curators and researchers. A Symposium in Beijing and a special edition of research publication DuShu magazine followed with 33 international articles and reviews published in total. State Legacy had an impact upon Chinese culture and OCT practices: Zhuan said, `During the two-year period of this project, for the first time, Chinese artists have had a serious, intellectual and creative discussion about their own state and its historical evolution during modernisation'. In the Spanish magazine Art in China, he stated that `Our collaboration with MIRIAD at MMU has developed an open and multi-dimensional angle for the project, and lent it a symbolic meaning'. It led to an enhancement of Zhuan's career and international reputation. He was invited to present at the Red Legacy in China conference, organized by Fairbank Center for China Studies, Harvard, 2010. Generating £95,054.50 income in the UK, State Legacy gave employment to 264 workers.

Hyatt continues with various projects on Manchester's Oxford Rd: he is artist-in-residence with Manchester Camerata (2011 and 2013) investigating the interface between the visual and the auditory in 8 x new technology public concert collaborations with the orchestra. The Manchester Camerata, Creative Director described impacts to date as, `invaluable [in] exploring the new and fresh ideas and approaches which have been brought to our programme and general thinking through this artist-in-residence collaboration'. [F, G]

In 2012, Manchester City Council used ERDF funding to commission Hyatt and architect Craig Martin to design and install a bespoke solar-powered public artwork, Fireflies, in All Saints Park in the heart of the Manchester Oxford Road Corridor [H]. Fireflies is part of Phase 1 ERDF investment. Thus, Hyatt has become a direct beneficiary of his earlier research, proving a sustainable, regenerative ecology of research and impact.

Hyatt's research continues to have an economic and cultural influence over the regeneration of the city of Manchester. Talking about this ongoing impact the Director of Cornerhouse says, "His research and thinking has underpinned much to the approach to developing culture with the Corridor area and paved the way for the creation of HOME, our new £25m, 6,500 m2 arts centre that will open in 2015. Professor Hyatt linked a range of artistic, scientific, political and historical `landmarks' to place, more specifically the corridor which is the area that bestrides Oxford Road, and this has helped us understand it's personality and so informed its development. In addition to the significant capital investments that are being made to regenerate the artistic and cultural landscape of the Corridor we have built a coordinated approach to promotion and audience building through the Culture on the Corridor board. This is unlikely to have happened without Avenue of the Giants."[D]

Sources to corroborate the impact

[A] Figures taken from Exchange Square competition brief (Manchester Millennium Ltd). Details available on request.

[B] Testimonial on file from Director, Manchester Digital Development Agency corroborating impacts on the regeneration and redevelopment of Manchester's Oxford Road Corridor.

[C] Testimonial from Director of Arup Manchester on the benefits of engagement with State Legacy.

[D] Testimonial from Director of Cornerhouse corroborating cultural and economic impacts along the Manchester Oxford Road Corridor and through the State Legacy Exhibition.

[E] http://www.cornerhouse.org/wpcontent/uploads/old_site/media/Art/Podcast%20etc/state%20legacy%20final.mp3 — podcast Hyatt giving guided tour of State Legacy to the Association of Art Historians Conference delegates (Intersections, organised and hosted by MIRIAD 2009)

[F] http://www.manchestercamerata.co.uk/files/mp3/event_up_close_john_hyatt.mp3 — podcast neatly describing research and including relation to State Legacy and new technologies.

[G] Testimonial from the Creative Director (email) of Manchester Camerata.

[H] Hyatt, J. and Martin, C., Fireflies, a bespoke solar-powered public artwork, 2012, All Saints Park, Oxford Rd. Manchester. http://www.staff.mmu.ac.uk/manmetlife/news/view/fireflies-light-up-all-saints-park