In the mid nineties Coventry City Council instigated an urban regeneration project cofunded by the Millennium Commission aimed at revitalising a central section of the city from the cathedral out to the Ring Road. The scheme called the Phoenix Project involved the demolition of a series of buildings from the sixties and the building of an integrated art and architecture sector for the city.
One of the two internationally recognised artists appointed to the scheme was the German artist Jochen Gerz whose work on anti monuments and the notion of national reconciliation fitted well with the aims of the project and the particular history of Coventry City. It is a characteristic of Gerz's work that he enlists the help of art students in the various projects that he has undertaken around the world.
This case study outlines the practices he used to engage students in a community art project.
