Brickworks

Abstract

The book explores the re-emergence of architectural ceramic brick as a primary material and process for public and environmental art practices. The text establishes the international field of practitioners involved in brick. It also examines the history and application of brick with particular focus on the ‘Specials Departments’ within the Brick Industry. Historic traditions and contemporary experiments inform practical processes and methodologies used by Heeney and colleagues. The author examines the way artists and architects use brick in contemporary application; exploiting its architectural potential through manipulation of wet brick, the use of newly fired bricks, or through the use of bricks and related forms as found objects and architectural forms. In the text, collaborative links are explored between artists and the many ‘Specials Departments’ of Brick Companies throughout Europe, Scandinavia and the USA. Heeney explores the possibilities of brick as an essential component of a public art practice that seeks to engage questions of site-specificity and community involvement.