May 2020 Group Exhibition 'Tank Town Factory Ltd.'

'Tank Town Factory Ltd. invites you to see the launch of our new company website!

You can find our launch page live here: https://tanktownfactory.wixsite.com/exhibition

We are a small company based in Lincoln, UK, focused primarily on the production of tanks. Our website Launched on the 7th May, so mark your calendars as you won't want to miss this launch!'

[Source] from a promotional in character post, that I created for the 'Linkoln Art Festival' Page on Facebook.

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I have produced and developed the overall website, which includes a platform for the conceptual sale of a variety of different types of tanks. In developing the website my aim is to bring together historical themes with modern technology to connect and blur the line between the present and the past with the constant flow of time.

The production of our tank echoed the production of the first tank in Lincoln. While a website is constantly in the present and can be updated from past versions, the fluid and flexible characteristics of a website contrasts the solid and ridged characteristics of a tank.

I am interested in the links between history and present day, what has been remembered and what has been laid to rest. For example, the tanks creation has had a huge impact on battle strategies, deaths and casualties, yet there is only a brief acknowledgement that the tank was created and experimented with in Lincoln, UK. Regular visitors or locals to Lincoln may be aware of the origins of the tank being in Lincoln, however, they often only know it as a trivial fact.

The term ‘Tank Town’, interchangeable with the name ‘Lincoln’, is virtually non-existent in the present. By creating a virtual constant present of ‘Tank Town Factories’ where there is currently still an active use of Tank Town in the present, this will create a discussion of the past and present as moments rather than as just a timeline that fades to surface level knowledge.

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On the launch day there was a total of 134 site visits from unique users, marking a success on this exhibition, along with positive feedback and interactions from a variety of people.

It was also great to see that people seemed to respond in a way that was both satirical yet playing into the company atmosphere, through different enquiries on types of tanks and if they may benefit the individual. This includes enquiries about social distancing from lockdown and wars with neighbours.

While the launch is over, the website will continue to run, so feel free to view it and there could be a potential continuation as with it being a website they can continue to be updated and renewed. This is especially true as a group exhibition this was originally intended to be a public performance.

At a future later date we may be able to finish the original cardboard tank and do said public performance, if this is the case the website would be updated to display the date of that event, and then documentation would be updated onto the website.

What's your opinion of the Exhibition?

I would love to hear some feedback in the comments and create a discussion on the subjects you particularly found interesting in this exhibition.

- Bethany Tompkins