A NEGLECTED, bleak piece of land, beneath the busy Cumberland basin flyover is taking centre stage at a Bristol festival this weekend.

The area, dubbed "The Lost Piazza of Hotwells" by local residents, is going to get an artistic makeover.

The Art Under the Flyover event is taking place in collaboration with the city's annual urban art festival, Upfest.

However, the long-term ambition of locals is to reclaim the area for the community.

Over this weekend the Hotwells and Cliftonwood Community Association is sponsoring a festival of art in this rather unorthodox space.

The intention is to give artists an opportunity to reinvigorate this neglected spot, a former park, isolated by the heavy traffic.

"Cumberland Piazza, once the jewel in the crown of 1960s urban planning in Bristol, is now an unused concrete wasteland," said association member and one of the organisers, Jayne Marshall.

"Just a sniff of the landscape designer's dreams of a glorious European-style piazza still lingers.

"Fortunately for the festival, these ingredients add up to a fascinating site for street art.

"The former piazza lies in a cat's cradle of ramps and fly-overs underneath the Plimsoll Road Bridge.

"The Floating Harbour, with the Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension Bridge provide a rather magnificent backdrop but, in direct contrast to all this natural beauty, the site has urban decay written all over it.

"It's rundown; it's ugly; it's concrete as far as the eye can see, but it offers huge potential for bold and imaginative art.

"There are five 'under flyover' areas, with arcades of supporting pillars.

"In some places the flyover is so low you can reach up and touch it. Adding to the unique atmosphere, there is a former fountain, now filled in; a derelict play area, several flat walls for painting, disused steps, abandoned toilets and even a subway. It really is an artist's playground.

"Visitors to the event can look forward to a showcase for large-scale painting, video projections and soundscapes. A family of crocodiles will lurk in the former fountain."

As part of the weekend, locals will also be getting involved, working with the artists to create a map of the old houses and streets which were cleared to build the flyover; then rebuilding a city in cardboard.

Spoke n Chain will be looking for volunteers to sustain its bicycle-powered cinema.

There will be work to 'green' the space using planters nurtured by local residents and a huge arena for pavement art that children and adults can decorate, with a balcony from which to admire the results.

"The event will be an opportunity for Hotwellians and other visitors to comment on ideas for the future of the site when some of the artistic ideas might be translated into permanent features of this challenging and fascinating space," said Jayne.