anna francis

How To Survive

2012-01-21T14:57:00.006Z

The first exhibition offer of the year came in a couple of weeks ago from Trove, who are taking part in the MAC in Birmingham's allotments project. Charlie has invited an artist (Sophie Bancroft) to design a cabinet, and then has invited 3 artists to exhibit works within the cabinet. Trove have used cabinets a number of times before. The other two artists/groups to be invited to share the cabinet with me are Matt Robinson, who we know as he exhibited at AirSpace Gallery in 2007 with his sick cloud installation and Milk and Two Sugars.

The beginning of 2012 has found me feeling tired and a bit uninspired, and I was thinking to myself maybe I need a break from all this art stuff. The past few years has seen me lead on various projects and events, and at times I have felt more like a project manager, and an administrator than a practising artist. This is common amongst practitioners that work similarly within the public realm: and also I believe, artists that are engaged with group development, who provide opportunities for other artists, can sometimes begin to feel a bit lost in the purpose. I have discussed this with other artists in my network, and they feel the same. So then, how to revive the energy? It seems that independent practice, which provides the opportunity to get immersed in research and making for yourself could be the answer. I thought, maybe all I need is a new project to really get my teeth into. And the next day the exhibition offer came in.

For some time now I have been interested in making kits/packs. Now that I come to think of it, over the years I have always made packs for things: Interrogation saw the artists involved presented with a pack containing costume, i.d. badge, notebooks maps etc. For Hallelujah 2 in Glasgow I sent an artist's activity pack, with instructions - for the artists and public to use during the private view. So, knowing that I want to make a 'How to Explore' pack for the residency in Harlech, I decided that 2012 would become the 'Year of How To.' Where each month I will make a 'How To' Kit. I have been thinking a lot about survival recently - the cuts to the arts have already lead to lots of artists reducing the amount of time on their practice. Some projects I was involved in have already been cancelled or not got the funding needed. So a Survival pack for artists, surviving in the age of austerity, with scruples intact, could be a very pertinent thing.
Therefore, the first kit for 2012, which will go on display in the MAC will be the 'How To Survive' Kit.Each kit box will be the same, and be very plain from the outside, with hand printed text on the box.
Then inside the contents will be objects and equipment which help with whatever the premise might be for that month.Each kit will also contain an instruction manual. Some of the instructions and contents of the how to survive kit are a bit daft, but also there are serious ideas being explored. I am quite pleased with how the kit looks.It will be interesting to see how it is displayed. Now what will February's kit be?

How To Explore

2011-12-11T17:24:00.004Z

In May myself and Andrew Branscombe will be going across to Harlech in Wales, to take part in the Harlech International Residency, with 6 other artists from Austria, Italy, Macedonia and Spain.
The works made during the residency need to fit into a box: 30 X 30 X 60cm dimensions, and needs to be able to be posted, as the works will go in an exhibition in Harlech, and then travel to different European locations to be exhibited there.
There will also be a series of Skyped sessions within the project, aiming to explore connections and networks.
I am really looking forward to going and having a week to explore Harlech: and have submitted a proposal to make a kit for exploring. Here it is:

Anna Francis will create a box full of the equipment needed to explore. The box will contain a range of measuring devices and apparatus needed for excavating, recording, investigating and uncovering a particular place. Site-responsive works will then be made.

Anna is interested in places, and how we pin them down. She is interested in uncovering their peculiarities and particularities, and is interested in engaging other artists and the public in this activity. Exploring new places is fascinating, and Anna will come to Harlech to use the items assembled in the box and do that. Also, Anna will use the week to create a ‘How To Explore Manual’ which will demonstrate how to use the apparatus within the box. The manual will then accompany the box to Stoke-on-Trent, Lodz and Naples where Anna will aim to persuade an artist from each place to use the box and instructions to explore their home. Anna is interested in asking other artists to reframe the familiar; asking another person to look differently at the place that they know very well, in order to uncover something new about it, and using the ‘How To Explore’ pack to make some site responsive artworks.

AirVent Calendar

2011-11-26T18:02:00.009Z

This Christmas AirSpace is celebrating by constructing a superdouper AirVent Calendar in the gallery window. We put out a call for artists to create a special box, and then each day of December (until Christmas eve) one of the boxes will be opened.
It's been exciting having the boxes arriving the last few days - some by post, some hand delivered. Kate Lynch is project managing the AirVent - and has a vision of how to bring it all together - a clue in the image above (By Kate.)
I have just finished making mine.
I can't really reveal what it looks like yet - as mine will be opened on day 10.
Also, on the day that the artist's boxes are opened the artist/or art group and their work will be celebrated on the AirSpace website and on social networking sites.
But I will put the image of the work here when it's the 10th plus links to the AirSpace site where all the boxes will be revealed each day - for now here is a description of the piece, I think it's a reaction to being totally skint:

For AirVent Francis aims to draw attention to the frenzied buying activity which occurs in the Festive Season. Families throw themselves into debt, year on year, in the name of something that many of them don’t believe in. The piece ‘Gifts’ is a stark reminder that in times of recession, waste should be measured.

Here it is:

Artists involved will be revealed each day.

Platform P at the Duke

2011-11-13T15:08:00.022Z

Last weekend I was in Plymouth as I had been invited by curators Edith Doove and Ray White (of Platform P) to take part in their event at the Duke of Cornwall Hotel as The Chambermaid. The Duke is an important historic building, built in 1863, as the Hotel manager told us - to cater for the Railway Station which used to be just outside, bringing people to and from the harbour boats. This explains some of the buildings fantastic original steel work features, which have much in common with Victorian train station design.I met Edith at the Trajector art fair in Brussels earlier in the year. This was really interesting, as the two experiences could not be more different. Hotel Bloom Brussels describes itself as a modern design hotel, and is a sort if swanky 'art' hotel. I wrote up my experience of that event here. But my experience was that the hotels were quite reserved in their approach to art happening in their hotel; whereas the Duke seem to have been willing to really push the boundaries - which is admirable, considering this is a working hotel. The staff at the hotel were really accommodating, lending me a chamber maid trolley for my performance and also cleaning equipment, they were also really friendly, and seemed quite interested and bemused during my performance, even offering me a job.I decided to build on the unexpected experience in Belgium, where I was almost invisible. This interested me. I quite like the idea that my presence in the hotel during the event might blend in - where guests and visitors might be unsure whether I am 'real' or not. In fact, this time quite a few people did not notice that I was doing a performance, obviously seeing me as part of the hotel - asking me for directions to the toilets, or simply ignoring me. I decided this time, instead of delivering room service, which was not allowed last time, or standing silently as I ended up doing, I would make myself useful by cleaning the public areas of the hotel.I was interested in exploring the value that is placed on art, artists and cultural activity. In particular the way that artists are rarely paid properly for their time and work. I was interested in questioning the perceived usefulness of an artist's activity - giving myself the task of doing two jobs at once for this performance - representing a group of artists as curator, while taking up the role of Chambermaid at the Duke - cleaning the hotel at the same time.Most artists hold down a number of multiple jobs in order to pay the rent, while attempting to maintain an active and critical arts practice at the same time, especially in the early years of an arts career, but sometimes throughout.In recent projects I have noticed a particular stance from some members of the public in relation to the funding of the arts - during the recession. Questions of value and worth have arisen - and I have heard, more than once, opinions ranging from - this is a waste of money, to - the money for this project could have been spent on a hospital.I hoped that through this performance I could begin a conversation about the value of my activity as an artist - and find out if my activity would be more acceptable if teamed with something which looks demonstrably like labour.
My question then: 'Is my work worth more if it includes some form of manual labour or industry, or is my arts practice enough?'
Platform P managed to secure funding for the event at the last minute - so the artists and performers did receive a fee, which was fantastic, but makes the question even more pertinent.
Before the event I put out a call for artists to make small multiple artworks in response to the theme of Hotels. I was really pleased with the response, and selected 7 artists works to display on my trolley.The lower shelves of the trolley had cleaning equipment, and one member of the public said 'That trolley was set up by someone with OCD' which I liked.In between cleaning I represented the seven artists and their works, giving out information about the artists and their multiples. This information is included at the end of this post, with links to the artist's works.On the day of the performance I was feeling unwell - having a bad cold. I decided therefore to ease into the Chambermaid performance, by starting on the third floor. This would give me a chance to get into the rhythm of cleaning before talking to the public. I cleaned the book shelves, the skirting boards, the windows, the door handles, the light fittings, the staircase and banisters, the mirrors, the pictures.There were some open rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floor, so every now and again a member of the public would wander along the corridor and encounter me.
Some just stood and watched me cleaning, as if it was a fascinating thing, while others would speak to me, and I would have a chance to tell them about the artists and their works.
As I got closer to the ground floor it got busier. And then came my favourite part of the performance. I noticed that the piano was very dirty, in particular - the keys were filthy.
I decided to give them a good clean. One by one I cleaned each key, which would create a plink plink sound which echoed around the reception area. This brought the attention of the public, one man even came across to ask if we could do a duet, so while I plinked away at the key - he played the other end of the piano. He told me that earlier in the day he had had a go on the piano, which I had heard, he was very good. He said that as he was playing he had thought to himself how much nicer it would be to play the piano if it was cleaned - so he was very pleased about my work.This was the cloth which I used to clean the piano.
I spent the last couple of hours of my 4 hour performance in the foyer area of the hotel. Cleaning and speaking to the public. I became not only curator of the 7 hotel related multiples, and chambermaid but also information sign poster. Members of the public coming in for the Platform P event began asking me when performances were starting, which rooms the works were in, how to get to the ballroom, and what was that piece of work about (amongst other questions.)
Overall, and once rested, I felt very pleased with the performance and its reception by the public. My favourite comment was 'It's really great having you here to tell me about the art works - some of the other stuff was hard to understand, but this is great because you have explained it.'
I am interested in revisiting ideas around the usefulness of artists' activity. I would like to try out other performances where a variety of roles are being performed at once, and where notions of industriousness are explored. The Platform P event was fantastic, and was something I was really pleased to be involved in. I met some fantastic artists, some of whom I hope to collaborate with in the future. I hope that Platform P does another event in the future. Perhaps I will get a promotion next time, and get to work behind the reception desk?
THE ARTWORKS:
Casts - Behjat Omer Abdulla has been working with the notion of identity for many years since he first found himself in a state of exile trying to gain recognition by the Immigration system in the UK. It has been over thirteen years since he left his native land, Kurdistan-Iraq. As a mixed media artist working mainly with drawing, photography, and video installation, he uses his practice to listen to peoples’ stories and try to create a platform for debate around the issues raised. For Behjat, art questions who we are and how we place ourselves in the world. It is a way to be in touch with our responses to life and a way of speaking that allows viewers to translate, decode and change it to their own languages. Here the Chambermaid is showing small sculptural works which capture the imprints of identity, casts in gold taken from porcelain goods which reference the Duke’s luxurious past.
behjaturl.tumblr.com
Divorce - David Bethell is a UK artist based in Leek, in the Staffordshire Moorlands.
Bethell's work is inspired by landscape and the natural environment, often looking at the contrasts and conflicts of human influences on landscape. His work also looks into our aspirations, desires, and our failure to achieve these unattainable dreams. He uses a range of media from performance, installation, object and animation.
Here his piece Divorce takes as inspiration the hotel as a site for romantic tryst. The promise of a perfect fit between nut and bolt is frustrated through the gold plating process. Raising the value of the objects has rendered them incompatible.
davidbethell.com
l'odeur d'hôtel - Andrew Branscombe’s piece responds to the prevalence of Formica as a construction material for furniture in the majority of reasonably priced Hotel and Motel rooms. The work consists of a small piece of wood effect Formica, rectangle, shaped and sized to fit inside a matchbox. The object is promoted on the outside as a car air-freshener to be hung from the rear view mirror. There is however no particular scent other than that of the material itself, which is bland, and manmade. The piece is examining the blank mundane and sterile environment that a mass-market hotel produces, contained within an outwardly exciting package. The piece aims to celebrate the distinctive nature of the Duke.
andrewbranscombe.blogspot.com
Postcard Books – A vital core running through Anwyl Cooper-Willis’s work is a sense of the ridiculous. Exploring how humans jostle and politic, making a way for ourselves in society. The posturing and pomposity, the hubris, the hypocrisy; an image of the absurd.
Here, offers of communication seem to be being made but remain somehow unfulfilled. The messages in Postcards from the Past – on having been Sixteen in their terseness decline to give anything away, and in 23 Postcards of Hotels: 22 Never Sent, the un-sent card itself is a failed communication; the reader must make their own guess as to the circumstances of the non-sending. The postcard, a stereotype of trite communication, is used to confound that stereotype.
acooperwillis.wordpress.com
Art Soap - Kate Lynch’s artwork deals with issues of sustainability and environmental concerns through the use of recycled, salvaged and natural materials. The Artist explores processes of deconstruction, reconstruction and conservation; highlighting historical features and visual histories revealed within the architecture of buildings.
The piece here reflects Lynch’s interests in replicating and appropriating packaging. Art soap is hand made using rosemary, bergamot and orange essential oils which aid creativity by promoting focus and clarity.
Bed Bug – Kim Matias is an artist and photographer based in Bristol, UK. Her embroideries often pick up on the downtrodden, forgotten or grotesque. Celebrating that which is usually overlooked, and finding beauty in the most unexpected of places.
Kim often uses human hair and other collected fragments within her embroideries.
Stay - Glen Stoker uses photography and film to explore the human condition and its relationships with the surrounding world. With a particular interest in the hinterland, both physical and metaphysical, the work often includes notions of journey, walks and mapping.
Stay is a text and photographic study of ten Stoke-on-Trent City Centre guest houses, forming part of a larger body of work investigating the idea that place = space + memories
www.glenstoker.com
Thanks to the 7 artists who made works for my trolley gallery - and thanks to Glen Stoker for the photographs.

Stick Up: How to Collaborate

2011-10-03T23:20:00.001+01:00

Anna-Bethan from ve strata on Vimeo.

For the next 6 weeks the Stick Up exhibition is on display at AirSpace Gallery, which is part of Stoke-on-Trent's BCB.
I had the pleasure of collaborating with Bethan Lloyd Worthington, an artist who works with drawing and porcelain and who is based at Manifold studios in London.
The project was challenging, and infinitely enjoyable. I am really pleased with what we did. We kept a blog, which documents the entire process here: http://stokestickup.blogspot.com/

Duke Of Cornwall: The Chambermaid

2011-09-26T16:20:00.004+01:00

I have been invited by Plymouth based Platform P to resurrect the Chambermaid - for their art extravaganza weekend, due to coincide with the British Art Show in November. I am really pleased to be involved and am putting out a call for miniature artist's multiples for the Chambermaids trolley. The Chamber maid was first performed at Trajector Art Fair Brussels earlier this year, and was part of the Motel Kandinski project.
Here is the call below:
Title: The Chambermaid at the Duke of Cornwall Hotel

What: Small works and multiples responding to the idea of the Hotel.

Anna Francis will be taking a miniature gallery (housed on a hotel hospitality trolley) to the ‘Platform P’ weekend takeover at the historic Duke of Cornwall Hotel. This event is a British Art Show Fringe event. Anna will be representing the selected artists, acting as curator, and Chambermaid simultaneously.

To Apply: If you would like Anna to represent you at the event, then simply send in a proposal for your miniature art work/multiples responding to the theme of The Hotel. The item(s) should be no bigger than an ordinary sized match box. The items will be for sale and the artists will receive 60% of any sales made.

You may like to consider Hotel memorabilia, ie. miniature sewing kits, toiletries and other holiday survival items.

Proposal: no longer than 100 words to explain your approach and response idea.

An image/sketch of your proposed item(s).

Up to 3 images of previous works.

A 250 word statement about your practice (for purposes of representation and publicity at the event.)

Blog or Website addresses.

Closing Date for Applications: Monday, 17^th October 2011

Artworks to be delivered by post/in person by Monday, 24^th October 2011

Email: deadromanceboxes@yahoo.co.uk with applications or for more info/postal addresses etc.

Go to the Platform P Facebook Page for more info: https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100002767921582

Wirksworth Festival Window

2011-08-11T13:37:00.008+01:00

I have been invited by David Bethell, who is curating a programme of window displays for the Wirksworth Festival, to do a window. The reason he asked me is that he wants works which are site specific - or which fit the specific location of a small town high street. He was particularly thinking about the works that I have done along the lines of SHOP INDEPENDENT.I thought this was quite interesting, especially when he told me that in Wirksworth only one shop IS NOT independent, and that is the Spar. All other shops are independent, which is incredibly rare these days.
This got me thinking about how far we have come in the last 50 years in most high streets, moving away from Independence and difference, with high streets becoming more homogenised. This creep is something that we are now very aware of, but it happened almost without most of the general public's awareness.
If we continue down this route we will become a nation where there is only one big shop. High streets may no longer exist at all - we may have no choice but to shop in the big corporations. I love the fact that Wirksworth is full of Independent shops - but it is certainly something which should be hailed and celebrated.We went across to Wirksworth on Monday to have a look at the available windows and to see if there would be one suitable for my idea. I had imagined that we would all be using empty shops - as many of the Shop projects I have been involved in recently have utilised these empty spaces. Actually Wirksworth high street doesn't have many empty shops - in comparison to other places - and we will actually be using the windows of existing businesses. I was a bit worried by this, as some shopkeepers might think my piece is negative - and might not want something like this in their window. My approach for Wirksworth will be to create a possible - anti-independent store of the future. As a warning to Shop Independent and to keep supporting local shops I am going to create the BLAND Brand - a non-independent monopoly, which is the future of retail if the previous 50 years is anything to go by. The Bland brand will see everything available for sale in cans - nothing fresh or exotic. Everything from Bread, to beans to soap in a can.
No choice, No colour, No difference, No independence.
BLAND.
The chosen site for the piece is part of (but across the alley from) Ken's Mini Market - the chosen window is on the high street but is not the frontage of the business - which is good. Also it was unmanned - and is where the mini market shows the DVD collection which customers can borrow. A DVD shop is very different to my chosen shop type - so I think this could work.
I will be including a QR code on the window and on all of the items for sale in my shop window, this will announce: Buyer Beware - Shop Independent.

Through A Glass Lightly

2011-08-07T14:46:00.007+01:00

This summer has been a full on one in terms of making art. As well as project managing the Kiss Me Quick show for Margate, and making a significant new piece of work for it, as well as doing a residency at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, Manchester, I was also invited to be in an exciting show, due to take place at the GoCart Gallery in Visby, Sweden later this month.
I was invited by Harrington Mill Studios, who as well as representing some of their studio artists, have invited some of the artists that they have worked with over the past few years. I did a two month residency in the studios back in the summer of 2008 (SEE THE WLTM BLOG HERE) - so I was delighted to have been asked.
The show title 'Through A Glass Lightly' references the Ingmar Bergman film 'Through A Glass Darkly' which tells the story of a young woman struggling with schizophrenia, and her relationships with the 3 men in her life. The film is a dark tale of confusion, and sexual tension and was my first point of call for researching an approach to the show.
Artist David Manley who is curating the show together gave this advice when considering new works for the show: " To give you a flavour of the concept think introspection, doubt, drawing, as possible themes."
I finished my residency at the Burlington at the same time as I was thinking about making the work for this show - and in my conversations with Tracey Eastham (my co-residency artist) one sentence had stuck out for me - and had become a page for the zine we made.In our conversations we talked about the doubts which accompany us at the beginning of a residency - and I think in all aspects of our artistic endeavours. The amount that an artist invests in their work - and the difficulty in separating emotion from artistic activity mean that we can feel very exposed and vulnerable. I was glad to be able to explore these ideas further by making two new text drawings from the same phrase. These A1 text drawings, made with graphite powder, take around 12 hours to complete each, and therefore offer a period of reflection while working. Something which I am coming to enjoy, as much of my work is public, quick, responsive and involves conversation with others. Finding a new thread which involves solitary time in the studio is proving to be very rewarding, and I am really pleased with the results. Although I like the computer generated white text on black background texts - which I have been making for over 4 years now - I think the handwritten nature of these new text drawings is very different to the graphic ones. I enjoyed making a pair of works - and felt that the change in nuance of the two texts refelcts the theme of the show well - I imagined the idea of looking into a mirror, where everything is almost exactly the same - but also opposite.
The GoCart show will be on from 23rd August until 6th September. I am not able to attend - but will look forward to seeing the documentation.

The Burlington Paper Cocktail Night

2011-07-19T13:22:00.009+01:00

On Thursday, 14th July The Burlington Paper Cocktail Bar opened, from 6 til 10pm. Serving the 6 evaluative cocktails which had been developed through the week long residency. This saw me visiting Manchester International Festival events, armed with my 12 evaluation criteria which were developed from: MIF mission statement (4 criteria), Burlington Fine Arts Club ethos (4 criteria) and my own personal ideas of what makes a good art event (4 criteria) see this post for the criteria.
There was a lot to do to get the bar set up.
I decided to set up on the other side of the Reception table, as this would mean I was very close to the glasses shelf, and would be able to stick to Burlington methods of asking each member to choose their own glass.I displayed the names of the cocktails, and also the menu on the bar and got changed into my uniform.
The cocktail sign looked fantastic and along with the luscious pleating, they really set the bar off, no one would guess it was two plinths and a drawing board!
I had just enough time before opening to make one of each cocktail to have on display on the bar, so the members could see what they would be getting, and this also acted as a prompt for conversation.
The cocktails were:
Number One: The Burlington, which ended up containing: blue curacao, vodka, Orange juice, soda water, a strawberry, and a fruit paper lantern.Next on the menu was Audio Obscura, which was very popular with the Burlington members, and sold out second after Projection. Audio Obscura contained: vodka, gin, elderflower, ginger beer, a maraschino cherry, a fizzy straw and a red paper umbrella.I was glad that this one was so popular and also that it included a few elements which bombarded the senses (even if here it was the tastebuds, rather than the earbuds.) Next was 11 rooms after the Live Art event at the Manchester City Art Gallery.This one contained vodka, gin, orange juice, grenadine (mixed in) and a squeeze and slice of lime. This one was served with a straw - and was disappointing - which matched my feeling about the piece, (see previous post for reasons why.) Then there was The Architect, which refers to the MIF Architecture which I took. I actually really enjoyed this tour, and as tours feature quite prominently within my practice it was interesting to see how 'a professional' tour guide would approach it.The Architect for me should be sophisticated, but simple - and so the choice of small European cup for display glass was important. The ingredients were: vodka, orange juice, soda water and a dash of grenadine, left to nestle at the bottom of the glass in the style of a tequila sunrise - classic!
Next up - the most popular cocktail of the evening - Projection - I am told that this one was 'really strong' but I know that it had the same amount of alcohol as the others. In fact the least popular was The Architect, which lots of people didn't want - because on the list there was only one alcoholic ingredient - however, I put in a double shot to make up for it!Projection contained: rum, vodka, elderflower cordial and lemonade, with mint and a pineapple shaped paper lantern. Very smooth - and very popular.
Finally the sixth cocktail of the Burlington Paper Cocktail night was Constellation. This one looked and tasted very fresh, containing vodka, gin, elderflower and cucumber. Constellations was not an official MIF show, but was an exhibition at the Cornerhouse curated by a Burlington member - Karen Gaskill. This was a wonderful show - in particular a piece by Katie Paterson called Earth-Moon-Earth, which saw Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata beamed onto the surface of the moon, the reflected notes were collected - but some were lost in the dark parts of the moon, and so didn't make it. The remaining notes are played by a self-playing grand piano, wonderful!
I enjoyed making the cocktails, and was amazed that some people didn't realise that I was not a real cocktail maker. One person, who I met earlier in the week, asked me - 'has the artist employed you to make these cocktails for her' so he didn't recognise me at first. I had to explain to a few people that this was not a real bar, but an artwork. And that they were drinking my art pieces. The idea here was for me to have a chance to talk to the Burlington members about their own ideas, thoughts and experiences of the MIF, but at times I was so busy (at one point a queue for cocktails went right down the middle of the large Burlington Club Floor) and at these moments I think I really became a Cocktail Maker, rather than an artist. At other points it worked very well and I was able to discuss my experiences, and test the feelings of the members.
It showed that many Manchester based artists and members of The Burlington had not been to any MIF events, despite there being quite a few that are free. Reasons given were, too busy, not relevant, not interested, too expensive, intending to go later on...
Also it seemed to be a recurring feeling that MIF is not for Manchester based artists - and is more about bringing people in - some said they felt that the MIF does not represent Manchester based artists, but that it is not a bad thing for the city.
If I were to do something about this again I think I would be more relaxed about it. I did try to take my time in making the cocktails in order to talk to people properly, but this is something I could have taken further. Perhaps if I had had a booth, which people could come into one by one - which would isolate me and them, and give me a chance to talk to them properly, that would have been better? Although this would have taken away from the 'atmospheric bar' feeling. There were times during the evening when people hung out at the bar chatting to me while I made cocktails for others - they would watch and comment on the ingredients and the shows that the cocktails referred to, and in this way it worked very well. The other idea may have been to employ a barman to make the cocktails and provide table service. This would have been a good idea for the Burlington, as the idea is for groups to sit at tables and chat - as the Burlington Cocktail Bar became the focus these groups were somewhat broken up - as people queued for cocktails. If I had waited on the tables this would not have happened, and I could have joined the tables and instigated conversation around the MIF around the room.My Collaborator at the Burlington Tracey Eastham had shown her collages on the posts and window of the Burlington. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to find out how Tracey had found the opening, as it was so busy, but I will definitely be back to see Tracey again and ask her how the residency was for her. I know that she did enjoy a few of the cocktails - and smapled the one that we had created together at the Cornerhouse.
The Burlington will close this coming Saturday (I can't believe it has been a month already) and myself and Glen Stoker will be back in Manchester for the closing event with this months 'There is Beauty in the City' outing. We hope to talk to the members of The Burlington about which bits of Manchester they find the most beautiful, we will be creating a map of Beauty. Looking forward to celebrating the successes of the Burlington then.

Last minute things: Cocktail Ingredients and signs

2011-07-13T18:45:00.002+01:00

So tomorrow will see the opening and results of my residency at The Burlington Fine Arts Club Manchester.
I now have my cocktail ingredients shopping list, a sign, a bar, and a uniform, and the zine is being printed overnight.
Tomorrow will be installing, and buying alcohol, and then the opening from 6 - 9pm.
I am quite excited, and looking forward to testing out my cocktail making skills.
See you there!

Time at the Burlington runs by: things come together

2011-07-12T22:37:00.003+01:00

Today at the Burlington was spent creating and collating the information gathered so far. Writing lists for things I need for Thursday's opening, and finishing off the zine pages, which need to go to Liz by tonight in order to be printed tomorrow morning.
Tracey and I have decided to do half and half of the zine, in the way that there are two beginnings, and no endings.
I am quite pleased with what I have done so far. Just need to do one before bed tonight.
I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone who wants to come along for the cocktails on Thursday, so I will only post my front cover here...exciting. The BPC (Burlington Paper Cocktail) refers to my project - making evaluative cocktails for the MIF and periphery events, and Tracey's MIF collages (we like to think that a collage is a paper cocktail.)
At Thursday's opening (14th July - 6 - 9pm) the zine will be available for sale (very cheap price!) or to swap - in order to create a temporary Burlington Zine Library over the course of time that the Burlington remains open. Also, visitors will be able to sample my special Burlington cocktails.

Day Two and three of Burlington residency: all about MIF

2011-07-09T23:36:00.021+01:00

Day Two of my residency at The Burlington Fine Arts Club involved using the research and planning from day one to negotiate the Manchester International Festival.
I changed my plan on the way, and decided to start with Audio Obscura, which made more sense since it was at Piccadilly Station. I decided on my final criteria for evaluating the events on the way to Manchester on the train. And also decided to give each event a mark for that criteria out of 10. This way I would be able to determine the top 4 scoring criteria per event, and with each criteria linking to a cocktail ingredient, would be able to design my evaluative cocktails.
So the final 12 criteria I marked each event from (out of 10 with 1 as low and ten as high): see below:
1. Gives you goosebumps.
2. includes/represents/is relevant to Manchester based artists
3. engages local communities
4. Free or affordable
5. engages with environmental issues
6. encourages conversation about art in a way which is accessible without becoming naff
7. sustainable
8. dynamic
9. is interactive or participatory
10. includes space for audience evaluation/therefore change and growth
11. original
12. has a legacy.
For each event I would fill in the homemade evaluation card (see below for blank one.)
I got to Piccadilly dead on 12pm. and by 5 past was wandering around the station with a pair of noise cancelling earphones on, immersed in Lavinia Greenlaw's amazingly affecting sound piece, described by the MIF as 'an aural version of the camera obscura: a framed and heightened reflection of the passing world.'The piece contained ambient train station sounds and fleeting thoughts and spoken reflections of passengers and passersby in the station. Standing still and looking about I found myself attributing the thoughts to the people around me. Some were lists of things to do or buy, while others were personal worries or preoccupations. It was a feeling of being in the station but not quite really there. It did not disorientate you, but it did disconnect you from the situation. I wandered around, sometimes standing still, sometimes walking. I felt isolated, alone, but then would see other people with the same headphones, wandering in a semi dreamlike state, or standing and staring into the crowd, like living sculptures. Just as the piece ended a train came in on platform 11 and made the ground rumble...'step, step, step...'
In order to take part in the piece you had to leave a credit card, or something else of value at the depot. I asked them, what if you have no credit card?' and they said that it could be arranged for you to still take part in the piece anyway, which I thought was good.So this was my first evaluation. This tells me that the 4 highest scoring points for Audio Obscura were:1. gives you goosebumps. 4. is free or affordable. 6. encourages conversation about art in a way which is accessible without becoming naff and 8. is dynamic. Audio Obscura lasted for just 30 minutes, but the effect was one of timelessness, I wasn't sure if it had felt like a much longer time, or no time at all by the end.
At the train station there was also an information point for the MIF, so I went there to get my hands on one of the official guides, to help orientate me around Manchester and the events. There was one on the table, so I pointed and asked 'Can I have one of those?' 'No, sorry.' The man said, 'We have run out and that is our last one.' He told me I would get one from the Festival Square, so that would be my next point of call.
On arrival at the square I asked one of the volunteers for a guide, and was told again that they had run out. Oh well, I would need to try and find things without the aid of a map or guidebook.
Luckily there was a sign pointing to the next piece to visit John Gerrards' Infinite Freedom Exercise on Brazennose Street.It was very close by to the Festival Square, which is actually Albert Square (something I was a bit confused about.) The large screen showed a computer generated man standing on a runway in a desert. From the literature I knew that the figure was acting out choreographed movements of soldiers sheltering or reacting to shells. From where I sat I could hear some Japanese style music from Festival Square, which somehow made the figures movements seem like tai chi. I like the situation of the piece, and the way that it would be continually changing 24 hours a day. Some people gathered to watch the piece for a while, but many more simply walked along by, vaguely interested. I heard from a friend later that when he was watching a group of people stood in front of the screen and replicated the soldiers movements. I did not see any such interaction with the piece while I was there, but I am glad that it happened.My evaluation shows that the 4 most relevant criteria were: 4. free or affordable. 6. encourages conversation... 8. dynamic. and 11. original.
There is no criteria for how much I liked the piece, but for me this piece was not as immersive or fascinating as the Audio Obscura piece, which was still in my mind while watching this.
One of the few things I had decided to pay for during my planning session was one of the selection of walks which were advertised in the Festival City brochure. There were differently themed walks for each day, these included: Manchester Music Tour, a hidden Manchester Tour (which sounded intriguing) and the Manchester Architecture tour. Having been a 'tour guide' as part of a number of different projects, I thought it would be really interesting to see how a professional might do it. So at 3pm I went back to the Festival Square to take part in the £7 tour. The brochure said wait at the meeting point, but by 3.05 noone had appeared, and though there seemed to be a confused few people wandering around, no tour guide. I walked around a bit, and then noticed a man orating from a plinth, with a crowd around him. This must be it, so I joined the group. The tour stuck mainly to the streets around Festival Square, looking at the Town Hall and it's extension, the Friend's Meeting House and the Free Trade Hall. The guide gave specific histories of buildings, but also provided some very interesting (but I think basic) pointers of how to recognise certain types of Architecture. I found this useful, but the most interesting revelation about the tour was in the fact that almost all of the grand buildings are no older than 200 years old. The guide explained that up until 200 years ago (and before 1828, when the Friend's Meeting House was built, Manchester had no culture, no history and no identity. It was with the successes of the Industrial Revolution and the wealth that poured into the city, from the mills that companies and businesses started to invest in the architecture of Manchester. He said that they wanted to buy in the look of history and culture, and so stole architectural design from around Europe. Young Architects would go on their 'gran tours' to Italy, Greece and beyond with their sketchbooks, and would pinch design from all over the place.My impression of Manchester has always been that it looks like an incredibly grand and historic city, and I am strangely pleased to hear that this is, to some extent, a facade. In particular, looking at how many of the buildings (The Meeting house, The Britannia Hotel etc) have incredibly ornate frontages, but that the back of the buildings are like factory mill buildings, as the guide said, these may be just as interesting or beautiful to some as the Baroque or Gothic swirls and swags, the backs reveal the true age of the buildings. I was pleased to note that though the Guide was very fluent, and really knew his stuff, he had notes with him as a prompt; something which I also do when giving tours.
Overall I really enjoyed the Architecture Tour, and would have liked to go on more tours during the MIF.My evaluation found that the criteria most relevant to the tour was: 7. sustainable (being self sufficient - people pay the guide on the day) 8. dynamic. 9. interactive or participatory (having the living guide there meant we could ask questions or get more information. and 12. Has a legacy (in my mind at least.)
Next stop was The Whitworth where I hoped to see 1395 (I really like Anri Sala's work) and I was also looking forward to seeing the Artangel projections show.
By this stage it was after 5 o clock, and having slipped on seaweed during last week's Margate Art Trip my torn ligaments in my knee were starting to play up. I guess I could have got a bus from the Cornerhouse to the Whitworth, but I walked it. That road always starts off feeling short, and then seems to get longer and longer the further down it you walk, so I got to the Whitworth at 5.30. I stopped outside to eat some crackers, as also the itinerary had not included lunch (!?) and went in. I soon discovered that the Anri Sala piece is scheduled for specific times (something I would have known if I had managed to get my hands on a Festival Guide, and that it had started at 5.30 - by this time I would have missed the first 15 minutes. I had missed it! Oh well, there was still the Artangel exhibition to enjoy.
The Tony Oursler projection can only be viewed between 10.30 and 11.30 during the two weeks of the festival, and only then when the weather permits. Unfortunately, the last train back to Stoke is around 10pm, so this is not viable for me. There are some Oursler works on display inside the Whitworth, and though i found the talking lightbulb to be entertaining, I was not drawn to spend much time looking at the 2d works. My eyes and interest were immediately drawn through into the room where Francis Alys' work was on display. The first thing we came to was the Night Watchmen, which I have seen photographs of before, but this piece was wonderful. The wall of screens showing an urban fox, trapped inside the National Portrait Gallery, playing on those ideas of the magic of spaces at night, and the hidden lives they lead when noone is watching. But here, someone is watching. CCTV is a recurring theme in Alys' work. The Francis Alys room contained a number of video works and walks by the artist, in fact the Seven Walks commission by Artangel - what was so fascinating, if a little overwhelming was the inclusion of the artist's research when working on a piece. Maps, notes, sketches, desk based and book based research were all present. Evidence of negotiation with people and groups in order to see the works realised show that these are not quick and easy interventions or endeavours (if anyone could have possibly thought they were) but each piece is carefully and painstakingly orchestrated, organised and realised. Even down to the correct way to tap the railings in his walk through Chelsea in London, the artist has researched how to use a drumstick. My feeling in this room was, 'Every art student should be made to see this!' Then they will know that work does not appear or materialise from nowhere, but comes about through a process of intelligent but hard work.Also on display was the impressive High Wire by Catherine Yass which was filmed at the Red Road in Glasgow, an area of 1960's high rises which I visited last year. And finally the Atom Egoyan piece, which on entry to the room made me let out an involuntary 'wow.'
Yes, these other pieces were wonderful to see, but for me, the show was stolen by Francis Alys. I would like to go back and have another proper look through the folders and folders of back up work. My evaluation sheet:
I have found there to be: 4. free or affordable (except for th fact that in order to see the Oursler projection you need to live in Manchester or have a car, or have the money to stay in a hotel) so maybe I should revise that? 5. engages with environmental issues - both the Yass piece and the Alys piece seems to. 8 is dynamic and 11 is original. Disregarding the 4 which I now feel I should do, leaves me with a 1 instead of a 4 - which is gives you goose bumps.
By the time I had walked back to Piccadilly it was gone 8, meaning I had missed the Burlington opening hours for the day, so I hopped back on the train, knowing that in the morning I would be back for more MIF and periphery events and a meeting with Tracey, my co-collaborator during the Burlington Residency.
Sunday:
First stop the Burlington to meet Tracey. Crossing the Piccadilly bridge I could see Tracey working through the window.I told Tracey about my marathon day of art and showed the evaluation cards, and Tracey talked about her plans and what she had been doing. We decided to just get back out into the MIF and see what might happen. Not simply focusing on the MIF but also on some of the other events and spaces which had works on to coincide with the festival we decided to go to The Cornerhouse to see the Constellations exhibition, and to CUBE.Tracey and I arrived at the Cornerhouse just as the first few drops of what was to be a torrential downpour were dripping. Throughout my week in manchester I had hoped to collect imagery and textual content to use as source material for the zine that Tracey and I had agreed to make alongside the Opening at the Burlington. So while at the Cornerhouse I got a few shots of the people hurrying through the rain, and also managed to note down some interesting snippets of conversation overheard around the building.I also documented mine and Tracey's conversation about the residency, Manchester and our own art experiences. I have used this material within the pages of the zine, for example a conversation overheard in the toilet, and Tracey's description of Takahiro Iwasaki's delicate installation pieces have been put together for a page.While at the Cornerhouse Tracey created one of her time-based collage pieces, where detritus from the space is quickly collected, and then a collage is made very fast, and documented like a performance. Only what is to hand can be used, and I noticed that Tracey would not accept any of the content which I tried to offer, but seemed to have a rule where it had to be obviously discarded or periphery, and had to have been found by her.The show at the Cornerhouse was great, I loved the Iwasaki piece, and Katie Patersons Earth-Moon-Earth is a piece which keeps coming back into my mind.Tracey asked if she could do this evlauation with me. So over a cup of tea we deliberated over the criteria.Our averaged results show that 1. gives you goosebumps. 4. is free or affordable. 8. is dynamic and 11. is original are the most relevant criteria for the Constellations show.
We also went across to CUBE where Tracey did another collage.With me documenting, we used the play installation piece by Nils Norman.
Next I made my way to the Manchester City Art Gallery to meet up with some of the AirSpace artists, who were meeting me there to see 11 rooms. This was possibly one of the parts of the MIF that I was most looking forward to. I was lucky enough to have got tickets to Marina Abramovic Presents at the Whitowrth at the previous festival (see my write up here.) And it had a lasting and major impact about my thinking around my practice, and has I believe influenced the way that I work - the methodology or 'deprogramming' and 'slowing down' introduced by Abramovic in particular resonated with me.
I was advised that I should not take pictures inside.
First room: Roman Ondak's SWAP.
At first I thought the old guy at the table with the thick Yorkshire accent must be the artist. But actually, as with all of the performance pieces within 11 rooms, these were hired in volunteers, and not the artists themselves.I noted down the swaps that took place while I was in the room.
Next room a naked lady looking at her body in a mirror, next room a man standing in the corner - not engaging with the audience in any way, next room, a tiny girl - a manga character come to life, next room a proposal for a corpse to be shown in the gallery, which never came to fruition, next room a man lies in the space between floor and ceiling in a room which is just a foot high, staring out, next room an actor masturbating in a big bed while the audience peer at him, next room a human revolving door, next room a self-playing piano, next room a woman naked, almost crucified on the wall on a bicyle seat with arms painfully hed out to the sides, next room a man about to hit the ground after falling, but somehow caught in that momentary second before impact.
Maybe it was because it was a Sunday afternoon? and the place was very busy, but I was very disappointed by 11 rooms. The amazing event at the last MIF had been so amazing, that I had tried to temper my expectations of this, but ultimately the experience of viewing Performance work of this nature requires a particular approach. Last time, before even gaining entry to the exhibition Marina Abramovic had spent an hour with the audience, briefing us, preparing us, changing us in readiness for the works. She explained that durational works require time, and engagement from teh viewer, and cannot be consumed like popcorn, one piece after the next.
11 rooms was packed with people, families on a Sunday afternoon jaunt, yawning bohos and Grannys rubbed shoulders with the usual art audience. There were too many people in the rooms. The entire experience reminded me of the freak show at the circus. We had booked tickets for the 4 o clock slot, but were asked to leave at 5 to 5 - meaning the expectation here was that the entire show should be viewable in less than an hour, I wonder what Marina Abramovic would think about that after all the work she did to slow us down in 2009?After 11 rooms the AirSpace folks came across to the Burlington, to see the Suites, sign up for membership and help me in my final Evaluation for the weekend.This means that the 11 rooms most relevant criteria according to AirSpace was 4. free or affordable. 8. dynamic. 9. interactive or participatory and 12 has a legacy.Liz came and joined everyone for a drink and brought out some hospitality in the form of tortillas and dips, and explained the thinking, ethos and hoped for objectives of the Burlington, and then everyone signed up to be members.
What a crazy, action packed weekend.
Finally, once home I decided that the final cocktail would be a Burlington Cocktail - and the ingredients should be decided by the Burlington Fine Arts Club Members. So I designed a survey and posted a link to it on the facebook page. People have now been taking the survey for three days, and I can reveal that the 4 most relevant criteria for Burlington are:
2. includes/represents/is relevant to Manchester based artists. 7. is a sustainable model. 8. is dynamic. 9. is interactive or participatory.
Click here to take survey
I now know the relevant criteria for each of the events which I will make cocktails for. I will be making 5 cocktails tomorrow, so need to decide which ones to discard.
But I know that
Audio Obscura will be ingredients numbers:
1, 4, 6, 8
John Gerrard will be ingredients numbers:
4, 6, 8, 11
Architecture Tour will be ingredients numbers:
7, 8, 9, 12
Projections will be ingredients numbers:
1, 5, 8, 11
Constellations will be ingredients numbers:
1, 4, 8, 11
11 rooms will be ingredients numbers:
4, 8, 9, 12
and The Burlington will be ingredients numbers:
2, 7, 8, 9

Day One at the Burlington: Info gathering and planning cocktails

2011-07-08T19:52:00.008+01:00

Manchester Piccadilly station: looking for a bridge. Why have I never noticed that bridge before? The Burlington space is literally just under the bridge, two minutes from Manchester Piccadilly station. An amazing space at the bottom of an enormous, corporate office building in Piiccaddilly Place.Met Tracey for a bit on arrival, which though short, was great as we were quickly able to set out some ideas and arrange to meet again for a longer period of time on Sunday.
We have already decided that for the opening on Thursday, 14th we will

create a zine which is a documentary/’unmade’ space for the experiences and works encountered and created this week
will have a more formal ‘made’ space which will take the form of an exhibition of works created this week
the opening will also be a space for my Sommelier performance (perhaps in front of the glass collection?) where I will mix cocktails and tell people about the events as part of MIF
we also wish to turn the opening into a site for creating a zine collection: so anyone can bring their own zine along and swap it for a copy of our specially made zine – which will form a temporary zine library within the Burlington which represents the members.

Once Tracey had left Liz got me signed up as a member of Burlington. I got free membership, but really it is very reasonable. Once you are a member you can drink in the club, join in the club's events, and instigate activities or book out one of the tables. In discussion with Liz the opening will be from 5 – 8pm on Thursday 14th.

Thinking about going around the MIF and needing to decide on the criteria which I will use to evaluate; what seems to be important?
I have read through the MIF mission statement in order to figure this out, and have a few ideas, these come either from personal ideas about what makes an art experience (AF), how well the event/activity fits with the MIF mission statement (MIF), and also from some of what Liz has said about the remit of the Burlington (LM). So my criteria for evaluating the Manchester International Festival events will be:
1. gives you goose bumps (AF)
2. includes/represents/is relevant to Manchester based artists (LM)
3. engages local communities (MIF)
4. Free or affordable (MIF say a third of things will be)
5. engages with environmental issues (MIF)
6. encourages conversation about art in a way which is accessible without becoming naff (LM)
7. sustainable (LM)
8. dynamic (LM)
9. is interactive or participatory (AF)
10. includes space for audience evaluation/therefore change and growth (AF)
11. original (MIF)
12. ...still thinking of this one: have consulted facebook community...
Having a look around the Burlington space at the suites: drawn immediately to TROVE’s plan chest which I have met before in Birmingham.
Really like the stereoscope drawer by Craig Marchington, It is a tour around hidden Manchester. Also a description of the process of finding out how to create stereoscope image. He has bought two zenith cameras and made a dual camera, very interesting. I guess it’s like when you shut one eye and look, and then shut the other eye and look.

Michael Day’s piece in the Furlough suite shows that his teaching has leaked into his work, in the form of a spreadsheet, originally made to track who is doing what teaching, when. I wonder if any of those lines represent my hours on level two?
What seems really interesting for me about Burlington is the use of the space which is somewhere between art gallery and BYO pub. Various groupings of small, medium to large tables are dispersed around the space, usually close to one of the ‘Suites’ which are like the booths at an art fair. These tables can performs various functions, sometimes being spaces for groups of friends to drink together while enjoying the artistic atmosphere and works on display, but also the tables can be hired out, in order for artists to make work/display something, or set something up. This is very interesting, and something which I think as a group AirSpace could get involved in.
Liz and Anna who have invited me to be part of the Burlington through this residency have a lot of ideas for the space – and Liz has been filling me in on some of those. They are proposing an arts bring and buy sale for Saturday, 16th July, which could be for arts materials. I know I have two cans of red enamel paint which were not usable for the wheel of fortune which would be a good thing to bring for that. Also Liz mentioned a model which herself and Anna had heard of from London, where Artist’s bring a piece of work to exhibit and pay £3 for the day, and then each piece gets a raffle ticket, then at the end of the day the raffle is drawn and one of the artists gets the hoard of £3’s. This also sounds great.

Thinking about which of the MIF events and periphery events to go to: thinking I would like to go to:
1. Sacred Sites
2. John Gerrard in Lincoln Square
3. Lavinia Greenlaw: Audio Obscura in Piccadilly station xx
4. 11 rooms at Manchester City Art gallery xx
5. 1395 Days Without Red at the Whitworth xx
6. Projections: works from the Artangel collection at the Whitworth xx
7. The Burlington? xx
8. I might also like to do one of the Festival City guided walks which are £7. I could do the Architecture tour tomorrow afternoon at 3pm? Sounds quite interesting. The one which I think sounds most interesting is the Hidden Manchester one, but that one isn’t until12th July which Monday – could do that as well. xx
9. The projections in the Whitworth Gardens.
10. Festival Square? has free wifi, and a place to soak up the festival atmosphere – not an event but a site.

As quite a few of the AirSpace etc. lot are coming across on Sunday for 11 rooms I might ask them to come to the Burlington afterwards to take part in an evaluation, which will then help to create a collaborative cocktail, based on my criteria, and what they thought of 11 rooms.

Mike Carney from Royal Standard popped in with the Drawing Paper #3. I think the sustainability and model for the paper is really good. Each artist paid £55 for a page in the drawing paper newspaper – I would definitely be interested in taking a page next time.

Maybe 6 cocktails would be enough?

Plans for Saturday:
12pm go to Festival square to get info. check if Albert square is festival square
12.30 go to John Gerrard on Lincoln Street
1.30 Go to the Whitworth to see 1395 Days Without Red at the Whitworth
onwards still at the Whitworth; Projections: works from the Artangel collection at the Whitworth
3pm Go on Architecture tour of Manchester from Festival Square.
5pm Audio Obscura Manchester Piccadilly station.
Maybe should try to go to one of the Sacred Sites performances at 8.30pm? the most central is the synagogue (number 3 on the map) which has some Sephhardic Jewish Hymns – just depends how long it is, as I don’t want to miss the last train.
?While doing all of this I need to be collecting imagery and information for the zine – plus thoughts. Should I attempt to talk to other audience members about what they think about it? I will see how it goes tomorrow.

Burlington Fine Arts Club: Residency Day One

2011-07-08T10:35:00.005+01:00

Just having a coffee before setting off for Manchester this morning for my residency at The Burlington Fine Arts Club.
The residency encourages a Manchester based artist to collaborate with 'an outsider' artist. I am the outsider and I will be working with Tracey Eastham. I am very much looking forward to meeting Tracey today, and seeing how we might work together.
The Burlington Fine Arts Club is a fascinating project: originally a London Gentleman's drinking club where men would meet to share their enthusiasm for the arts, established in 1886 it is now being reimagined to coincide with the Manchester International Festival, and I have been lucky enough to be selected for a residency.
The Burlington is a members only club, and as I understand it, there will be a number of groups/galleries based within the club. I know that Trove have a space as does Michael Day's new group Furlough. I cannot quite imagine how this will fit together, but it sounds very interesting. There is also an emphasis on the social side of the arts world - so drinking and chatting is very important. All members pay to join and then membership fees and drink proces will be collated and then distributed to participating artists at the end of the project. This means that at this time I have no idea if I will recieve a fee for the residency, and in fact it depends on the success of the project. I think this is a model which lookms very sustainable - and is an interesting experiment in alternative funding sources.
My application to the Burlington residency programme involved becoming a Sommelier. I will be working with my collaborator to come up with a set of criteria for evaluating Manchester International festival events, each criateria will be represented by a cocktail ingrediant, and so a menu of cocktails will be produced for the opening night of the residency showcase evening on 14th. This will be a way of creating conversation around the impact of MIF and the Burlington's place within it.

The Kiss Me Quick Project

2011-06-22T23:20:00.021+01:00

We first began talking about the Kiss Me Quick Exhibition just before Christmas 2010. I introduced the idea to the group, telling them about my interest in the Turner Contemporary project in Margate, and how it would be great to build on the energy generated by Turner by having a summer show in Margate. As time passed the group of artists grew from the usual AirSpace Studio artists to include some of the other local artists that we have connections with and have worked with before. We invited Michael and Janine from Rednile to be part of the show, as well as Behjat Omer Abdulla who we have worked with on a few projects.

Meetings were held every few months to see how people were getting on. The main premise of the show was to look at the impact that an art space like Turner Contemporary might have on a down at heel seaside town, whether culture led regeneration might be witnessed in action, and also to think about notions of a British Seaside Revival in the wake of rising fuel costs. As a group of Stoke-on-Trent based artists, we also hoped to draw on the idea of the Potter's Holiday which saw groups of Stokies heading for the seaside in droves, a tradition which is dieing out along with much of the Pottery Industry.

My personal approach to the project was to directly reference the newly opened Turner Contemporary, and take the opportunity to talk to people in Margate about how they feel the gallery will impact on the future of the Town.
I was lucky enough to be selected for an A-N writer's bursary back in April, which allowed me to visit the opening night of the gallery and the public opening at the weekend - and used this as a chance to feel the temperature in Margate - and see how people were responding to Turner's presence. I was amazed at how vibrant Margate felt over the weekend - and wrote about my experiences here.

My first idea for Kiss Me Quick was to become a seafront fortune teller - complete with crystal ball, but visits to Margate got me thinking differently. I wanted something which referenced my own experiences as a Teenager working in the fun park - and was reminded of the big wheel, the lights and sounds of the arcades, and the general frivolity.
I decided to make a wheel of fortune.
I have to admit that my woodworking skills aren't up to much - and being part of a collective of capable artists helped here, with Andrew Branscombe stepping in to see me hand drawn plans realised.I painted the wheel with gloss and then had the job of writing the texts, which I was really nervous about - worrying that my sign-writing skills might not be up to it. Also painting the text in gloss for the first time was challenging and really scary as I didn't want to ruin the wheel.
It took a number of solid days to complete, but in the end I was happy with it.
The idea was that the texts should be ambiguous - they could relate to Turner's presence in Margate - or alternatively the participant might choose to see the texts as relating to themselves.
It was a mixture of positive comments and negative. They were: you will be great: you will amount to nothing: you will teach us to sing again: you will disappoint us: we would be nothing without you: you will let us down: please give it another try: you will make us proud and we would be better off without you.
Of course the main point was to start a conversation with members of the public - with the spin of the wheel as the ice breaker here.
For this summer show we decided to hire the Margate Harbour Arm Gallery. As a group we would never usually pay to exhibit our work - it is something we have discussed before and feel that as professional artists we should be paid to show, however, this year with cuts to funding the landscape looks very different. We decided that Kiss Me Quick would become an experiment, to see if we could raise funds ourselves for the show through a variety of activity in order to see what works and what doesn't and what we as a group might get out of the activity as a whole.We tested out a few different funding experiments in order to raise cash.
We held boot sales and a yard sale at the gallery - selling multiples and small works as well as bric a brac, plus we had a cake stall and coconut shy, and the ever popular AirSpace Binball Game was resurrected .
We also created a zine - which we hoped to sell to make money, but which we also hoped to use as a way of connecting with some Margate based artists - as we put out an open call for submissions from artists with a connection to Margate. This was great as we met Sara Wicks from Limbo Arts as well as a few other artists locally, who came to the show and got their mates to come too.
We also all made postcards to sell at the show.
Overall we estimate that we managed to raise around £800 towards the costs of hiring the gallery, hiring a van to transport works, paying for the posters/flyers and postcard and zine costs. However, individually the artists paid for their own works, transport and accommodation costs.Originally when discussing the project we had hoped that all of the artists involved in the show would be able to spend a week in Margate - this would give time to put up the show - have the show on from Friday til Monday, and then take down the show.
Many of us, while being practicing artists, also have day jobs, and as we have not gone for funding for this show this meant that quite a few people could not afford to take the time off from work to be in Margate for a week. In the end 6 of the 13 were able to be there for the full week, with the others joining us on Thursday or Friday.
The 6 of us found an apartment to rent, and arrived on the Wednesday. We hired a van and took everyone's work with us, and it was decided in the last meeting before Margate that myself (as project originator) and David Bethell (AirSpace Gallery director) would curate the show. This was necessary, as we could not afford to wait for all of the artists to arrive before making decisions about the placement of works.
The Harbour Arm Gallery is about 14 metres by 5 metres - so it was a real challenge to place 13 artists' work.Some works (my own included) therefore needed to be placed outside of the gallery space in order to avoid cluttering the space. As my work involved a performance, where the wheel would be taken out and about along the Harbour Arm this seemed to make sense. This was a risky idea though - as we could never be sure about the weather! Luckily for us, the weather was glorious all weekend. My performances went really well, and I found that though there are some in Margate that do not like the look of the Turner building, or are not keen on the current show, there is an awful lot of positivity about the impact that the Turner is having on the Town. One lady I spoke to who was in her 40s told me that she had lived in Margate her whole life, and that for the first time the week before, whe had sat on the seafront having s drink and listening to some jazz - that for her was a marker of how much the town was changing.
Watch the KMQ documentary slideshow to see how the show looked and what we got up to over the weekend. There are a couple of clips of my conversations with people too.

KMQ Slideshow from ve strata on Vimeo.

Since the Margate show we have had some ongoing conversations about the way that the show was organised, curated and the workload involved in a project of this scale.
With a project involving 13 artists, and happening somewhere other than where you live, and with no funding, there is an awful lot to organise and do prior to the exhibition opening, when installing, and then when taking down and evaluating. Feedback conversations have centred around the need for the workload to be properly understood and distributed. In terms of group development I believe that this project, though an absurd amount of hard work - has been very worthwhile. I realise that in this case I have done too much, and was really burnt out after the show. This was mainly because we had not distributed roles properly, or understood the need to do this. We now have an understanding of what needs to be done, when, and so for future projects will be able to ensure the bulk of the workload does not fall on just a few of the artists involved. We also discussed the fact that at certain times people may have other commitments that mean they cannot fully commit to working on the project as much as others. The feeling about this seems to be that with a group show of this nature, where noone's time is being paid for, though it needs to be understood that at times during the process individuals may not be able to give 100%, there are always roles and responsibilities that are not 'time dependant' for example - web based advertising can be done at any time, and everyone should be able to commit something to the project. If individuals feel unable to commit anything but a piece of work, they should be realistic about that, and sit the project out. Hopefully all of this learning will mean we get it right next time!

There have been other points and issues that have been raised through the project - in particular, one of the artists was unhappy about the way their work was displayed, and this has raised a need to discuss more fully who curates a show of this nature. As the artists are contributing their time and work for free - is it really appropriate for others in the group to take the role of curator, or should all artists be given free reign to show what they want, how they want? This has turned out to be a very contentious issue. My feeling is that someone does need to make the final decisions about the placement of the work, in order to ensure the best outcome for the whole group. The requirements of individual artists should always be carefully considered, but with a project like this, it is not a series of solo shows, but a group show, and therefore there needs to be a process of conversation, cooperation and at times, compromise. This was agreed by other artists at the meeting, but it was also mentioned that if there is to be one or two people curating, then those individuals should change, and not always be the same people.

Unfortunately, with Kiss Me Quick the artist concerned was not available to have a conversation, and therefore a decision was made to show their works in a different sequence to how they had asked, this decision was not made lightly. Although the conversations since this decision have been difficult, I really hope that we can learn something from this for future shows.
After the Kiss Me Quick show we had a meeting to evaluate and discuss how it all went, where all of the above was thrashed out. We had planned to do a return show, documenting and presenting all that was done in Margate.
It was decided that other people would take the lead for this return show, which I was really relieved to hear! So this time Glen Stoker and Katie Shipley would be project managing, with Kate Lynch and Behjat Omer Abdulla curating, Michael Branthwaite offered to organise invigilation, flyering and performances, as well as organising with Janine Goldsworthy the Preview drinks, with other people taking up other roles...So, if early changes are anything to go by, it seems that the group has already begun to develop in a healthy direction. This new way of working allows individuals to try out new things, picking up new skills with the support of others.
For the Kiss Me Quick Slideshow I decided to use the evaluation survey which the artists filled in as a way of creating a new piece of work - a Kiss Me Quick evaluation cocktail.The online survey asked 9 questions - and before the artists took the survey - each question was randomly linked to a cocktail ingredient. The 4 highest scoring questions were chosen as ingredients for the KMQ cocktail. That meant the KMQ cocktail will contain: ginger beer, rum, grenadine and vodka. The survey also told us, that although there have been a number of issues raised through the project - overall the artists involved enjoyed the project, felt that the project allowed space fro them to be involved and develop their own ideas within the project, felt that this was the sort of thing they would like to be involved in in the future, and were happy with how their work was shown and represented within the project.

At the KMQ: Slideshow preview I got my cocktail uniform back out and served the cocktails. It was a chance to talk to people about the experience of the artists within the project, but also to talk about the way that the project had been funded, and how much it had all cost.
I prepared these pie charts to show how much of the project was paid for through our fundraising initiatives, and how much the artists had contributed themselves. The second pie chart showed exactly what the money had been spent on. We all felt that it was encouraging that the biggest bulk of the money had been spent on artworks. This also looks good - for if we were to decide to apply for funding for a project of this kind in the future. The slideshow preview was fun, and the works looked fantastic.I was pleased that the Sentinel agreed to do a piece for us, which brought a few people in on Saturday. We have decided that each day that the show is open, individual artists will perform in the AirSpace Gallery window. We have wanted to have some form of live art in the window for some time, and this was a great opportunity. Each artist will use their time slot differently. Friday Glen Stoker occupied the window, using it as a time for reflection, he quietly recalled as many summer holidays as he could, writing them down on slips of paper and attaching them to the window.
Andrew Branscombe put on his scientists uniform from the show, as well as his welding mask - and became a human statue.
Saturday, Janine Goldsworthy held an impressive yoga demonstration in the window.
For my slot I plan to use the time for something that I never got to do in Margate - relax! I will be getting my holiday rep uniform back on, and sitting in the deckchair and reading book.
Images of the Slideshow, preview and window performances to follow!

There is Beauty in the City: Bilbao Exhibition

2011-05-16T13:07:00.006+01:00

Something amazing has been going on in Bilbao. The Beauty in the City Magnet project has exploded! Glen Stoker (project manager) has been in conversation with Igor Calvo from Bilbao and a Bilbao based project has blossomed from their conversations.
Over 300 people queued up to get their hands on one of the magnet packs, and tomorrow night an exhibition will open at one of Bilbao's major art spaces, Sala Rekalde.
Here is the press release for the project: I will post later with images from the show. 137 new photographic submissions have come in from Bilbao over the last couple of months so far - go to the project blog to have a butchers.

Press Release for There is Beauty in the City: Bilbao

What : Photographic Exhibition

Where: Sala Rekalde Gallery, Alameda Recalde, 30 48009 Bilbao

When: Tuesday 17^th May – Tuesday 24^th May

Web: www.thereisbeautyinthecity.blogspot.com

There is Beauty in the City is an online photographic project which originates from Stoke-on-Trent by local artist, and Lecturer in Fine Art at Staffordshire University, Anna Francis. The idea, a central part of the City’s 2008 Axis Festival, was inspired by the post-industrial nature of Stoke-on-Trent and was aimed at generating an attitudinal change in the way we look at our cities. To look for the beauty in our city, rather than a constant emphasis on degeneration.

To join the project the participant simply applys for a “There is Beauty in the City” magnet – places the magnet in a beautiful or favourite part of the city – and takes a photograph. The photograph and some explanatory text is then submitted to the project blog.

In the 3 years since its inception, this celebration of Stoke-on-Trent has grown into a celebration of cities worldwide. Over 300 submissions have come in locally, nationally and internationally – in fact from 13 different countries – reaching as far as Whanganui in New Zealand, over 12,000 miles away.

The latest instalment comes in the form of a collaboration with an artist collective and gallery in Bilbao. The project has taken the city of Bilbao by storm, with over 300 people queuing up to get hold of their magnet and the photographic results will be on show at a major art gallery (Sala Rekalde) in the heart of Bilbao.

I hope you agree that it is an uplifting and enervating thought that a Stoke-on-Trent artist and the city itself has inspired another great city, going through a similar regeneration process to look at itself in a different more positive light.

For more information and images please contact Glen Stoker:

thereisbeautyinthecity@yahoo.co.uk

Brussels Art Fair and Trajector Art Fair

2011-05-15T13:33:00.023+01:00

Last month myself and Glen Stoker headed across to Brussels to take part in the Trajector Art Fair, an exciting event held in the luxurious Hotel Bloom! which is due to coincide with the larger Brussels Art Fair. We had been invited by Nathaniel Pitt and Paul Johnson (Various Artist) who had secured one of the hotel rooms in order to represent the work of a selection of artists. They invited us, as well as some of the other AirSpace studio artists as a follow up to the Motel Kandinski performance at Conjunction '10 Live Art Day. I decided to 'represent' my own selection of artists, through a curated collection of artworks all made in response to the Hotel Multiple. I was interested in looking at and playing with the idea of the art fair, and the way that galleries represent artists' works. I did this through a performance called 'Room Service.' I gave the studio artists at AirSpace the brief and they made small multiples in response, and the idea was that I would be a chamber maid - and the artworks that I would be showing would be housed inside a serving cloche. I wanted to distribute menu cards to all of the bedrooms in Hotel Bloom! Guests at the hotel would be able to call up and I would attend them in their rooms, with my tray of artworks, where I would deliver carefully prepared information about each of the pieces and the artists that made them. Unfortunately when I arrived at Hotel Bloom! and introduced myself to the art fair organisers they were not happy to allow the performance to go ahead - presumably feeling that it was too risky, and might not fit in with the Trajector or Hotel Bloom! image. So all the cards I had printed up were wasted. Speaking to Nat and Paul about it I decided to simply do the performance for a set amount of time in the Hotel Room, where Nat Pitt was showing works by 5 artists that he had selected. It was decided that it would be best to do this on Saturday afternoon.In many ways, the Hotel's refusal to allow me to do the performance affected my approach, and I felt almost as though I should not really have been at the fair at all. This lead me to change my approach, and to just stand very still in the corner of the room, and to only interact with the 'Guests' once they had interacted with me. This, I felt was actually quite appropriate, as a good Chamber Maid is one that is almost invisible, inconspicuous. As I moved through the hotel towards the room, people didn't even really notice me.The response from the viewing public was very positive. I believe that I was the only person at the fair doing something performative, and the human nature of the work seemed to draw people into the room, and most would come directly across to speak to me, to browse the curated artworks, and to hear about the artists that i was representing. My small works were for sale, and in the two hours that I was performing I sold a good number of them. On the whole they were priced between 3 and 5 euros, 52 euros was raised. The individual works made by AirSpace studio artists werePhil Rawle's 'Please Disturb' signs. The sheer relevance of these made them very popular, and they were snapped up almost immediately.David Bethell created this miniature titled 'If you're caught on fire, and there's no water around - You had better run and then let that room burn down.'Andrew Branscombe created 'Occupation Evidence' which was a little kit which allows you to forensically fake the artist's presence (with instructions.)Katie Shipley created a miniature book called 'Make or Break' which was derived from snippets of found texts from Postcards sent from Margate a long time ago. Putting these snippets together the artist has created a narrative about a relationship.Bernard Charnley created 'In the Pink' which may have suggested ideas around luxury and dysfunction.Glen Stoker created a series of matchboxes, each depicting a Stoke-on-Trent guest house or B and B, the sort of places that would never usually have souvenirs.and Kate Lynch created this fantastic art soap promising to guarantee you the most creative way to wash.
The chamber maids in hotel Bloom! were not the traditional type like me, they had rather modern trouser and tabard uniforms. For their benefit I decided to make an intervention within my hotel room throughout the duration of my stay. I displayed my chamber maid outfit in the minimalist 'wardrobe area' in the hope that they would see it; a private exhibition of my work. When putting the uniform together I had decided not to get a wig - up until now all of my characters have had their own hair, but I thought that as I had made a little headpiece it would not be necessary. I do not think that this was a mistake, as the wig is not purely an aesthetic prop, but also helps me to transform mentally - and will not be left out in future.

One of the really interesting things about Trajector was how differently people had approached the 'problem' of curating an exhibition in a hotel room, working with the various fixtures and fittings: beds, mirrors etc.Nat Pitt's Project Space had removed the bed from the room entirely (the only space that had done so) and was using the long sideboard to show Ellie Harrison's 'The History of Financial Crises' this involved a number of popcorn machines which were all on timers to coincide with the various historical crises and crashes. At intervals during the weekend the popcorn machines would explode into action, spilling popcorn over the floor. Nat had also used the shelves to display Saulius Leonavicius' manipulated photograph of a hunter, perched on two cans of contraband meat.Rair (Rotterdam Artist's Residency Group) had made their room into a project space, showing documentation from their residencies.Rather than trying to sell artist's work, this was more about raising awareness of the programme, and spreading the word to artists. This was probably the friendliest of the spaces. But we met quite a few nice people at Trajector. One of them was Jasper Van Es. One of the rooms was dedicated to his money works, all exploring the value of art through various reworkings of euro notes.
He had installed a series of plinths with his photocopied notes. See his website for more details of this interesting project.Also on the Saturday we attended a talk with Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich along with Adrian Rifkin. The talk covered ideas of art and value in the wake of the cuts. It was interesting that their room contained banners and video documentation from their parades.While in Brussels we popped across to the Brussels Art Fair to meet up with Kevin Hunt from Liverpool's Royal Standard. We wanted to go up the Atomium, which was created for the World Expo of 58.I was excited to see the view, and in particular The Mini Europe theme park.
Excitingly Kev had a solo space in the show, which was presented by Stephane Simoens Contemporary Fine Art. Kev's work looked really great in the space, and created a welcome moment of calm within the busy art fair environment. Kev also invited us as his guests to The Art Brussels VIP party, which was very luxurious and exciting - thanks Kev!
On the way back from Brussels we stopped off in Ostende, which was a treat. A very strange place. I was happy to get this snap on the beach, which has featured in the Kiss Me Quick Zine.
Overall, the experience of making a performance in an art fair told me that it is not the natural environment for my work, and I have to say that I didn't particularly enjoy the experience. I met a lot of great people, but felt that my work was out of place in the commercial enviroment, and although I am not adverse to this corner of the artworld, it is not where I feel my work fits. So, a very useful, and telling experience.

Being Digital: Margate Harbour Arm

2011-04-20T18:37:00.006+01:00

The Being Digital group exhibition which I am in on Margate Harbour Arm opened on Saturday. I was really keen to be involved in the show as I had become interested in the emoticon, and how it is used to try to add emotional nuance to written conversation. I was also keen to be involved as the show was timed to coincide with the opening of the Turner Contemporary. Pat Wilson who organises the exhibition programme at the gallery was astonished with the more than 1,000 people that she estimated had visitied on Saturday. I use a lot of social media and messaging in my work, and of course communicate a lot by email, and often find misunderstandings occur due to the often instant and quick response nature of the form. I do not use emoticons, as I find them an inadequate addition to an already limited form of communication. I also find that they bear little resemblance to the human face, and this is something I wished to explore in the piece Emoticon. First, can the emoticon change the reading of a simple text, and second, can my face mimic the emoticon?
You can see my piece, and Andrew Branscombe from AirSpace's piece as part of Being Digital at Margate Harbour Arm Gallery weekends and bank holidays until 2nd May, or see mine here below.

anna francis - emoticon from ve strata on Vimeo.

Turner Revealed: You Are Here...

2011-04-18T14:13:00.032+01:00

I arrived in Margate on Tuesday, 12th April full of anticipation. I had not been since 2008 (see my blog on this visit here) when I came to see how the arts were developing alongside the build up to the opening of Turner Contemporary (said to be the largest art space in the South East, outside of London.) So, the day of the opening had finally arrived...
I had felt the energy building towards the event, even with the 250 miles between Stoke and Margate, as the constant email and Facebook updates from the gallery kept me up to date with the plans. I was very excited when my invitation arrived in the post:which I pinned up immediately. The invitation itself is a lovely object - very thick card, with a slice of colour down the edges of the card, it was a sketch of the gallery by architect David Chipperfield. I sent in my R.S.V.P. immediately.
My interest in Margate is two-fold, having spent many summers there as a teenager working on the Dreamland Fun Park, making doughnuts, ice creams, hot dogs and candy floss, the Margate of my youth was already down on its uppers, but the closure of the fun park in 2005 really seemed to signal the end of an era for the seaside town. My secondary interest is in line with the research I have been undertaking over the past few years, around artistic and cultural activity, and the impact it can have in post-industrial cities, and places in need of regeneration in general. The Turner Contemporary project is, therefore of great interest. Can an art gallery turn around the fortunes of a Town like Margate? What impact will the Gallery have on visitor numbers to the Town? What will the people of Margate make of the project?
A-N magazine put out a call to offer writers bursaries for people to go to the Turner opening, I applied and was selected, so decided to go to both the private view on Tuesday, 12th and the public opening on the weekend of 16th-17th April, to see what difference there would be in approach and feel. The £100 bursary from A-N almost covered the two lots of train fare.On arrival at Margate station there was a big poster announcing Margate as the Home of Turner Contemporary. As I left the station I could see there was a bit of last minute sprucing up going on, with new bins being installed along the seafront, and plants and flowers hastily being dug into borders and boxes.The joke shop at the bottom of the formidable 'Arlington House' block of flats has managed to survive, though most of the other shops which lined this arcade have closed.I made my way along the seafront towards the Harbour Arm, and caught my first real glimpse of the gallery. It certainly outflanks the historic Droit House, which is a post-war reconstruction of the original. My first impressions were that it looks like a series of cliff faces, which to me fits in well at the edge of the promenade. Diggers and other heavy machinery were still busy laying the path to the gallery with only hours to go until the opening...I met up with Mum on the Harbour Arm and had a look at the changes and developments that have happened there since the last visit in 2008. The galleries and restaurants along the harbour arm are more established these days, and there is also this addition of Mrs Booth the Shell Lady (after Turner's lover) a permanently sited work in bronze at the end of the Arm, looking out to sea. Later I heard from Pat Wilson, a local artist who organises the programme at the Harbour Arm Gallery, that this sculpture came about through an open call, which asked for a £50,000 work to signpost the Old Town, (actually I remember the CALL) and this piece by local artist Ann Carrington was selected. There has been some controversy around the selection, with this post from Margate Architecture and another on the Turneround Margate Blog, with various people expressing their dislike of the choice. The main problem seems to be that people feel the sculpture is kitsch (and not in a good way) and that it did not fulfil the original brief, which was to signpost the old town. This permanent sculpture is sited on the end of the harbour arm, and there are twelve other (less permanently made) versions which should be wheeled about the town, in changing locations, and signpost the way to the permanent sculpture. Pat said that the main problem with that is that they would need to be chaperoned, which costs money, and so does not generally happen (more on this later.) We had some hours to kill before the 6pm opening, and wandered around the town, looking for a cafe. A positive change from our 2008 visit was that there were a number of cafes open to choose from. Mum said that a marker that a place is on the up is that 'swish' cafes open, so if this is true, then things are looking good. When the time came for the opening we headed towards the gallery. In my RSVP I had written on that 3 of us would be attending the opening, but after queuing up we were told that I was only allowed to bring (a plus one) by the Lady with the clipboard.
It was an astonishing moment, and one which I am sure to remember throughout my arts career, refusal of entry to an art gallery - 'your names not down, you're not coming in!'
Unfortunately I had failed to understand that my invitation would only allow me to bring one extra person, and so I had to try to explain my mistake, and ask for leniency.
I asked to speak to my contact provided by A-N, but this only sought to confuse things further, and create further embarrassment when the Lady said, a little crossly 'Can you move aside please, we have a lot of people waiting to get in.'
When my contact arrived I was told under no uncertain terms that we would not be allowed in - despite having two places at least on the list - to which I eventually just cried out 'But I've come all the way from Stoke-on-Trent!'
They took pity on us, and finally we were allowed in...
But unfortunately the embarrassment at the door put a bit of a dampener on the event for me.
Still, I was really pleased to look around, I had been sure that there would be some fantastic sea views, which there were. The spaces have been designed so that they can all be opened up, or blacked out depending on the show, flexibility which I am sure will add to the success of the gallery.Mum and Dad were not very happy about the 'lack of art' in some of the rooms, in particular in the learning space, which showed only this piece 'Etagram' created by Turner Contemporary's Intergenerational group Blank Canvas. For me, the works on display throughout 'Revealed' were in response to the gallery, or Turner's work - and were in places slight, or site responsive in order to ensure that the gallery be the star in this all important first exhibition. Also the Clore education space is I am sure designed to be particularly flexible in order to allow a variety of activities and workshops to happen there.My favourite piece in the show was Ellen Harvey's installation, Arcadia. The piece consisted of a large text - much like the seaside amusements which used to line the seafront - facing a large scale video of the sea, and lent up against a make shift hut, which directly referenced Turner's own gallery, in shape and scale. Inside the hut was a panorama of drawings, etched into the back of mirrors on light boxes of Margate seafront as it is today.The monochromatic nature of these drawings suggested something filmic and grave, and the way that they were layered over torn fragments of Turner paintings for me reference the palimpsest; and the future of the Town, with a new generation of artists being inspired by [almost] the same sights that Turner had seen.Daniel Buren's window piece acted as a frame in the main entrance to the gallery, creating a circular view out to sea, and bathing the space in a golden light as the sun went down. We did not stay for the speeches, as the space was entirely full of people, and reminded me of the experience of viewing a Picasso exhibition in Japan, where you had to queue to look at the art works, and there was an unspoken time limit on how long you were allowed to linger and look. The atmosphere felt oppressive, and claustrophobic, and left me wanting to escape, which we soon did. It was probably my earlier experience with the gate keeper; but I felt upset that my family had not had a positive welcome to the gallery.
On my return to Stoke people asked me how it had gone, and I was sad to say that it had not been one of my favourite art experiences.A few days later I found myself back on the new high speed link from London, which means you can now get to Margate in under an hour and a half, hoping that my second brush with Turner would be more fruitful than the first. The Kent on Saturday newspaper that had been left behind by the previous occupant of my seat announced Turner Contemporary's public opening, and I started to feel optimistic.On arrival at the station Turner was already asserting his presence on the Town: I was greeted by two of the missing shell ladies, plus a helpful volunteer handing out information booklets about the opening weekend. I later came across a few more of the shell ladies, hiding in one of the many closed down shops and spaces in Margate Town. This had once been the most amazing sweet shop, lined with jars of every kind of sweet.Another change on the main shopping fronts in Margate is the number of commercial art galleries that have sprung up, and the estate agents are now announcing spaces (here, an old snooker club) being announced as a possible art gallery/studios/showroom.Walking along the seafront I was surrounded by a festival atmosphere. I hadn't seen Margate this busy since the Carnivals we used to go to when I was around 6. Making my way along to the Harbour Arm I was really pleased to see Graham Gussin's film lights illuminating Margate. I felt this worked even on such a fantastically sunny day. The lights were not directed onto the Gallery, but out onto Margate Town, suggesting that it was Margate that was the star of the show today. And I must say, over the public opening weekend of 'You Are Here,' I really felt that this sentiment was true. The Harbour arm and the entire seafront were thronging with people, and music played on every corner. People were smiling and enjoying the day.
There was a food market in the Old Town, and I was looking forward to returning Sunday to see some more of the 'You Are Here' programme.
My brother Dan and I got up bright and early on Sunday morning and headed back across to Margate on the train.
We planned to be there all day, as I wanted to go along and see the collaborative piece by artist Zorka Wollny and composer Ania Szwajgier 'Songs of the Sublime' which would be closing the weekend at 7.43pm (sunset) at the gallery. I was a bit worried about whether we would be hanging around with nothing to do with all that time, but I needn't have worried!Dan and I wandered around the old town, looking at the arts and crafts and food stalls. In between the Museum and the Mayor's Parlour was an area called 'Artists' Alley' where various artists and groups had set up stalls.A sculptor was busy working on a clay head of one of Margate's most famous daughters. Tracey Emin, along with Jools Holland had officially opened the gallery the day before.Around the corner we were approached by a local artist: Angela Malone. She asked if I would have my photo taken as Turner for a project she is working on to reclaim the Turner name for local artists, which I happily did, and asked her what she thought about the new gallery, and all the positive activity which surrounds it.A few pop up shops had sprung up, and other empty premises had their windows filled with art displays to suggest their future uses, all this made Margate feel less like a broken forgotten town, and more like a place with a future.This idea is an initiative called 'Windows of Opportunity' sponsored by Waterbridge, Margate Renewal Partnership and Thanet District Council.
One of the main things I wanted to see was the 'Bodies in Urban Spaces piece, by Austrian choreographer Willi Dorner. So, at 4pm Dan and I headed to the Old Town to wait and see what would happen.Suddenly a stream of colourfully tracksuited people came running through. I had thought they would stop and do something in the middle of the square, but they didn't stop - they kept going. 'Quick, lets follow them' I said to Dan, and we started the pursuit.After a few hundred yards we came across a group of them squashed into a doorway. Once the pursuers/audience had caught up, another of the performers would sprint on, showing us where to go next. What we came across was a series of site specific interventions which directly responded to the architecture and physical features of the town. This also acted as an alternative tour around parts of Margate usually unseen, taking in some beautiful hidden treasures, The Theatre Royal, the now closed Margate Caves and various gardens and streets.The reaction of the unknowing public, those who happened across the activity accidentally was amazing. People stopped and stared differently at these familiar streets, exclaiming 'What's all this then?' and one shout of 'Bloody Weirdos!' My brother declared 'This is my kind of art!' and I had to agree. It was so exciting, not knowing what we would see next. This was worth a trip to Margate on its own.After this we went and had another look at the Gallery. Though still busy, the spaces were a lot calmer and more negotiable than they had been on Tuesday's opening, and we got a real sense of the spaces, and were able to talk to the invigilators, who were very knowledgeable and willing to chat and tell us about the works.Then we had about an hour before the 'Songs of the Sublime' and feeling a bit peckish we went back to the old town, as I had heard a recommendation for a pub called the Lifeboat.We were pleased to find local ales and ciders on offer, as well as vegetarian pie for me, and a local Ramsgate sausage for Dan. The bar staff were really friendly and the music was good. What more could we ask for?
After our refuel we got back to Turner Contemporary in time to watch the sun going down on the opening weekend, and to experience 'Songs of the Sublime.' A sound installation in response to the architecture of the gallery.Unseen voices sang and spoke and footsteps were heard, and as the sun went down a girl wept on the window sill. The thing which I love so much about the New Art Gallery Walsall, (my favourite art space) is that it is a people space. Life happens there; teenagers snog in the film rooms, kids hang out on the sofas, old ladies rock up for some cake and art on an afternoon. It is for everyone. 'Songs of the Sublime' looked to me like a proposal, a projection of the Gallery as a living, working space - and somewhere that will accept and welcome all comers. It was a fantastic end to a beautifully positive opening weekend.
Dan and I strolled back along the seafront towards the train, and spent our last half hour and last few pounds on the two p machines in the arcade.
*****I heard a variety of comments from locals and visitors over the weekend which I tried to capture, also asking various people in shops and bars and stalls what they thought of Turner Contemporary, and how they felt it might change the town. Here are a few of the thoughts and comments collected:*****
Lady walking along the seafront to her Husband: 'You see, the thing is as well, how long would it take to commute to London from Margate?'
Lady Walking: 'Yes, but its only busy today!'
Man working in Arcade on Sunday: 'I think it will make a difference - it did yesterday, not so much today, but what we really need is the fun park - now that would really help!'
Artist on the Street - Being Turner: 'Well, I think the Tate have come down here and are making money out of the Turner Name, and we really have more right than they do down here to go off the back of it. But now things are starting to happen. We are trying to set up a Turner Festival and want artists to line the seafront - you know, come down here and take over the whole seafront.'
I ask: 'Has the Gallery acted as a catalyst for you, or were you already doing this activity?'
Artist: Well, I suppose it has, yes, but now we need to take the name back!'
Man walking by Turner Contemporary, pointing at unfinished path ' All that should have been done for the open day, it's a disgrace! I mean look at it, it's like a high security prison!'
Man walking down Harbour Arm: 'I hate all this art bollocks.'
Man serving in Lifeboat Pub: 'I have been working all weekend so haven't been along yet, but yeah, I think it will be great. It will be good for Margate.'

An edited version of this review was first published on Interface (25/04/11) www.a-n.co.uk/interface and is the result of an Interface and Turner Contemporary bursary partnership
Thanks to my brother Dan for the use of some of his images.

Kiss Me Quick Zine Call

2011-03-28T15:44:00.004+01:00

We now have a logo for our Kiss Me Quick show. The show will take place in Margate Harbour Arm Gallery Private View on Friday 1st July - and then we will be open on Saturday til Monday (4th).
We are organising a number of events and talks to happen over the weekend as well, all tbc.
A big reason for the show is the Turner Contemporary Gallery, which opens on 16th April. As a group of artists from Stoke-on-Trent we are interested in exploring the possible resurgence in interest in the British Seaside Holiday, and the impact of art and culture on regeneration; Turner Contemporary (along with the Dreamland Heritage Project) may be providing new reasons to visit Margate.

As a group of artists many of us make a living through our practices, and for this reason we would never usually apply for a project which required us to pay. However, with the cuts, artist led spaces are finding it harder to survive, and many are relying on revenue which can be brought in through rental costs. We have decided to hire the Margate Harbour Arm Gallery for a week - the cost is £156, plus of course we will need further funds to hire a van for a week - and petrol to transport the work to Margate, and also we need to cover the costs for the artists to stay in Margate.

As cuts to the arts mean funding is few and far between (and getting harder to secure by the day) we as a group are interested in finding alternative sources of funding.
We have decided to try out a variety of approaches to funding in order to financially float this project. One of our ideas is to create a zine which will accompany the exhibition. The call below will aim to extend the artists involved in the project - hopefully helping us to make some links with the art scene in Margate - and also providing an opportunity for the project to exist in another format.
We aim to have the zine ready one month before the show in Margate, so we can start selling it.
Other fundraising schemes which we as a group will be engaging in include: a boot fair, a silent auction, and a quiz.The exhibition will show the work of 13 artists, all based in Stoke-on-Trent. Some of us are from AirSpace gallery, and others from Rednile and others are friends of both - for this reason we have developed the idea of an amorphous group called and friends - who can change and develop depending on the project.
The zine will be made with recycled paper, and will be quite home made (in order to keep costs down) but we hope it will be a beautiful art object. Kate Lynch specialises in hand made print techniques, and will be leading on the development of the zine.

Open Call for Submissions: Kiss Me Quick (Zine)

What: 2d Work based around the theme of the British Seaside Holiday.
In the summer of 2011 AirSpace Studio artists, Rednile and friends will be descending on the Seaside Town of Margate for ‘Kiss Me Quick’ an exhibition on Margate Harbour Arm. The artists will make work in response to the town, and will be considering the possible resurgence in popularity of the British Seaside Holiday, in the wake of fuel price rises. This call is for works for a ‘Kiss Me Quick’ zine, which will be produced alongside the exhibition.

Who: Artists with connections to Margate.

To apply tell us:
1. Title of piece
2. Artist name
3. Website / email for publicity
4. Connection to Margate

File format: jpeg or tiff

Colour: black & white / greyscale only.

Size: A5 portrait at 300dpi (1754x2480 pixels / 148.5 x 210mm / 5.85 x 8.27 inches)

To apply: send us your art works in the file format stated above to deadromanceboxes@yahoo.co.uk by May 2nd 2011.

Dreamland, O Dreamland.

2011-03-23T16:28:00.003Z

I have been selected for the A-N bursary to write about the Turner Contemporary opening, which I am really excited about. I will be going along to the opening and then reviewing my visit for artist's newsletter.

This is the short piece I wrote as a proposal (The title Dreamland, O Dreamland comes from the title of the marvellous film of the funfair at the end of this post:

I grew up with the smells of sea in my nostrils. As a teenager, like my Mother before me, I made candyfloss and endless ninety-nines for sunburnt and rain sodden holiday makers on Margate seafront. The rhythmic chanting of Bingo callers, rattle of coins being dropped into arcade machines and the thumping tunes from the Waltzer all went silent in 2005, when the amusement Park ‘Dreamland’ closed its doors to the public. Some said this was the final nail in Margate’s coffin. No longer the Costa Brava of the U.K; Margate’s glory was faded, with no hope of resurrection.

Until now.

I returned to Margate after years away in 2008. I had heard that a new art space was planned for the Town, and it was going to be big. I found a town, whose cultural landscape had changed beyond recognition. Suddenly more than 10 art spaces were operating in the town. It seemed to me that Turner Contemporary were very deliberately involved in spurring on the development of an art scene in the Town. Building an audience in readiness for the opening of ‘the largest exhibition space in the South East, outside of London.’ I felt that the grassroots investment witnessed in 2008 could only bode well for the project, and I am keen to return for the opening of Turner Contemporary, to explore the new building, and to talk to the people of Margate to see what impact Turner’s presence may already be having on the town.

Modes of Practice in an Age of Austerity

2011-03-13T20:40:00.033Z

Yesterday the modes of practice event took place in the Exchange, Stoke-on-Trent. This is an event I have wanted to see happening for a while now.
The thoughts first started as a result of Rich White's 'State of Practice' essay, which Rich delivered at the Interrogation: West Bromwich. Read it here.
It explores ideas of value/money and the threat to the arts as a result of the cuts. Then a few months ago Rich sent out a call, stating that he was available for work - and this began a conversation on an earlier blog here, where I wished to explore whether Rich would come and clean my windows for payment - in order to discuss the wider issue of what we as artists should agree to do for money.Of course lots of groups are exploring these things, the group Sophie Hope is involved in 'Making a Living' have been carrying out a residency last month on the Longhouse Website exploring these themes, and the Arts Against Cuts group are very vocal on the subject, in addition I have been following Emily Speed's Getting Paid blog on a-n, and indeed Rich cited this within State of Practice.It was for this reason that I approached Emily and Rich to ask that they come to Stoke for the event 'Modes of Practice in an Age of Austerity.'The idea for the event was that Rich and Emily, who both have what could be described as non-traditional art practices like mine, which do not usually result in an output/product or object which can be sold, would give a talk about their practices, and how they envisage the cuts might impact on them, and what plans they may be implementing to survive. You can read Rich's paper here.
Watch Rich's talk above.
Then I wanted to have a discussion with all the artists and practitioners at the event about the issues facing all of us - with a view to coming up with some rules for how to be and how to support each other in the coming years.
Watch Emily's talk above.So after the talks, everyone got a cuppa and then got into smaller groups, to discuss a series of questions; I was really pleased with the turn out at the event, with people travelling from as far afield as Yorkshire, and Birmingham for the event. Also the Exchange was a great space to hold it in, Gemma and Marcus made us very welcome.
the first question was:
Question: What impact have the cuts had on your practice or the practice of other artists you know?
Selected Answers:
- lack of payment
- emerging artists taking the strain/working for free
- artists are being more inventive/working in new areas to supplement practice
Next was:
Question: What are your main concerns for the coming years?
Selected Answers:
things go on hold/limbo/impact will really be felt in 2012
devaluation of the arts/arts not respected as adding to quality of society
life becoming more dull- a hole where all the art was
The Conservatives
Then there was:
Question: What are the best and worst traits in an artist (or in yourself as an artist?)
Selected Answers:
positives:
seeing sharing ideas and work
flexibility
able to collaborate
resourceful/ turning negatives into positives
negatives:
lack of solidarity
taking unpaid work in order to make something happen instead of saying maybe it shouldn’t happen
promoting the myth of the starving artist
acting unprofessionally when given an opportunity/not taking it seriously/not treating it as a job/puts off commissioners and propagates the myth that art is not a profession
and finally:
Question: Have you started to employ any strategies for surviving the cuts, and how could artists help and support each other during these difficult times?
sharing links/knowledge/opportunities
being more proactive to meet people
do things at cost
providing opportunities through networks
Then the groups worked on coming up with 5 rules for how artists might ensure good practice and support each other in the coming years.The conversations already generated meant that the rules came quite naturally. It was encouraging, as one of the participating artists pointed, this could have been one big moanfest - but actually there was a lot of positivity - and though problems and issues were being aired all around the room people were thinking of how to make things better and be supportive of each other. Nat Pitt who was in attendance raised the question of how positive would we be likely to be in a few years time, when the effects of the cuts will be in full swing.
Each group introduced their 5 rules to the others, and then each participant had two votes to select their favourite two rules. This showed us which were the most popular of the rules.
We then created our list of 8 rules, in order of importance.
The final part of the event was to discuss as a group how to disseminate the manifesto.
Myself, Emily Speed and Rich White will now each work up a poster design (giving us three versions) which we will be having printed and will then get it out into the world.
The group committed to publicising it to their networks, and getting as many artists as possible to sign up to it,other ideas of where to target it can be seen on the sheet above.
I am going to set up a Facebook group, in order to help to disseminate the ideas, but I will be working on my poster next weekend at Kate Lynch's Print workshop. Rich, Emily and I have decided to keep it black and white, to make it as cheap as possible.
I am looking forward to seeing all 3 designs together - watch this space!
Thanks to New Generation Space for funding and supporting the event, and to The Exchange for providing the venue and the tea, and to Glen Stoker for the photographs, and of course a massive thanks to everyone who came along and shared their thoughts and time, and helped to write the manifesto.
MANIFESTO:

1. Be Active: Support each others’ endeavours
2. Be Active: Be Political
3. Be Active: Keep making art
4. Value Yourself, your time and your skills
5. Share resources and knowledge
6. Focus/Strategise/Plan
7. Be Critical: Quality Assure
8. Know your rights

Update: We have been working on a slightly easier to understand version of this in the past few days, and Rich has come up with the following:

Manifesto: Modes of Practice

1. Be Active: Support Each-other.
2. Be Active: Be an Activist.
3. Be Active: Be an Artist.
4. Value Yourself, Your Time and Your Skills.
5. Share Your Knowledge and Resources.
6. Focus, Strategise and Plan.
7. Be Critical - Be Fair.
8. Know Your Rights.

A guide for artists and creative practitioners in the age of austerity.
Rich White's Manifesto.

Kiss Me Quick: Margate Holiday Plans

2011-03-01T21:58:00.011Z

This summer AirSpace Gallery studio artists will be hopping on a Double Decker bus and heading for Margate, not with Cliff Richard though, but with some other Stoke-on-Trent based artists.
Kiss me Quick will be an exhibition exploring the rising fuel costs and the possible resurgence in interest in Britain's Seaside Resorts.
Margate's glorious days were seemingly long since over, but the hopes of many are pinned on a revival in interest in the Town's fortunes perhaps to be brought about by the opening of Turner Contemporary (opening in April this year.)
I am keen to explore what impact Turner has already had on the cultural landscape in the town, and following up on my visit from 2008, I will aim to see how the artist lead activity has developed over the past few years. See post here.
At the moment there are about a dozen of us planning to make work for the show. Everyone is making work which is to some extent site specific, or in response to Margate.
I am planning to create a fortune teller type arcade machine (with me playing the fortune teller.)
The fortune's will all be looking at the future landscape of Margate, now that it includes Turner Contemporary.
We have already had two planning meetings, and have secured our venue: Margate Harbour Arm Gallery - and we aim to make connections in Margate (and raise some funds to help with the costs) by creating a zine which can be sold prior to and during the event, half of which will be designed by us, and the other half will be a call for artists with Margate links.
We also hope to include some activities and events within the programme, which will hopefully help us to develop networks in Margate, but also to make some work and documentation to bring back to Stoke with us to exhibit here. Some of us are interested in the idea of a group of people from Stoke all going off to the beach - just like the Potter's Holiday's of the past, when all the Pottery Firms would close, and everyone would pile onto coaches and head for the seaside.
We are all quite excited, as it will be a bit of a holiday (if a working one.)

Ground Level event

2011-02-28T16:08:00.012Z

The event to support the Ground Level exhibition (Hayward Touring Show) took place last Tuesday.
I was really interested to see how it would work, as previously the walking/mapping events which I have done have all been in places that I know really well. I was interested to see how it would work in a place that I had only visited once. (see previous post for recce).
I had prepared by bringing along images from my recce, and making each participant a pack containing maps, information and mapping aids - plus binoculars.I met the group in the activity room at Leamington Spa Art Gallery (The Pump Rooms).
We started by talking through how artists use mapping and also set out the idea of experimental geography, which we would be employing during the day - thinking about moving differently through familiar space - walking and looking differently can make a well known place seem fresh and new.Within the gallery there are a number of beautiful train travel posters, the idea for today was, using experimental geography techniques, to create alternative tourism posters for Leamington, which would pick up on and respond to the patterns, rhythms and realities of Leamington. We have been given the area next to the posters to display the results, which is exciting.We then went along to see the Ground Level exhibition, which is why Nadia Wazera from the gallery asked me to develop this event. I am very interested by Stephen Willatts work (we are looking at it here) and so it was great to be involved in this. I find his approach to working with space and people refreshing and inspirational. We looked at the show, which includes various approaching to mapping, cartography and movement through space.Then the main part of the day - getting out into Leamington to discover and collect imagery.
We looked high:
and low:noticing things which others might ignoreSometimes the group were able to give me an insight into what it is like to be a tourist in Leamington - it is always necessary to try the spa waters.Which are very salty.On our return to the space we thought about what we had seen - and in particular thought about appropriate language to describe the Leamington we had just discovered to add to our posters. We printed out lots of the images that had been taken.Then everyone got on with using collage to create the alternative posters, picking out the architectural features with decoupage techniques.The results were all unique - and really interesting in their individual approach. But my favourite was the one below. I was pleased with how the day went - the group (who were 14 and 15 years of age) were fantastic to work with - they were really creative in their approach to experimental geography, and the posters now on display were fantastic!
A big thank you to Nadia and Sharon for inviting me along, and for all your help on the day. Thanks too to Glen Stoker for photographing the event.

Leamington Spa Visit

2011-02-07T12:30:00.008Z

On Friday I got the train to Leamington Spa - a place I had never been before. I realised I had not been on the train for a while, and so really enjoyed the journey - and found myself reading a really interesting essay in The City Cultures reader, talking about the inbetween space of train travel - limboland. Something I have thought about before, and so I was pleased to find de Certeau had written critically on the subject.
I was on my way to a meeting with Nadia Wazera who works at the Royal Pump Rooms - Art gallery. They approached me last year to ask if I would do a mapping/experimental geography event as part of the Hayward Touring Curatorial Open show; Ground Level which opens this month. I was really keen to be involved, as there are some really inspirational people in the show - in particular Stephen Willats, whose work has been very important to my approach over the past few years.I decided to just get off the train and attempt to find my way to the gallery instinctively = trying to employ some of the experimental geography techniques I might use in the event. I was thinking of trying to 'feel' my way to the gallery - following a route which felt most likely to be the right one.Using this method I saw a lot of interesting architecture, but soon found myself back at the train station again, so decided to use the GPS on my phone to get me where I needed to be.I soon found the gallery and explored the streets nearby to familiarise myself with the locality - ready for my event. The event centres around the idea of negotiating a place in a new way - looking, thinking and moving differently through space. The people who come on the event will be equipped with binoculars and cameras, and will be encouraged to look up at features on buildings, and look down at patterns on floors and generally to walk about with eyes wide open, to collect the rhythms and secrets of the place.
We will aim to collect evidence of human engagement with the environment (as here with the sticker) and then represent all that we have collected in alternative travel posters of Leamington, which are almost microscopic in approach, as opposed to the more usual 'landscape' approach.
We will create the posters using collage and also decoupage, and these will be displayed in the Gallery.
My conversation with Nadia was very interesting, as we discussed our involvements in artist led spaces in our respective cities - Nadia is part of Artspace Coventry, and I am part of AirSpace Stoke-on-Trent.
We hope to arrange reciprocal visits to see how we are structured and organised in the near future, which should be very interesting.

Proposal

2011-01-31T16:58:00.004Z

Just been working on a proposal for a show being organised by Pat Wilson for the Margate Harbour Arm Gallery which is due to coincide with the opening of Turner Contemporary.
I am keen to be in Margate for the opening and see how the space and art scene in Margate has developed since I went on my research trip there back in 2008 read about that here.
For this piece I am thinking about the limitations of typographic emoticons in displaying real human emotion. Above is a sketch for my proposal.

UPDATE: Selected! so watch this space for the actual work...

Paris Correspondence School Exhibition

2011-01-24T23:56:00.006Z

On Friday we popped over to Birmingham to Trove, the old science museum gallery run by curator Charlie Levine.It was the opening of the Paris Correspondence School project exhibition. Back in the summer Charlie got in touch to ask if I would design a postcard for the project. She was going to Paris and wanted to make interventions with the postcards (designed by 16 selected artists.) I liked the idea of revisiting one of the projects I did in 1998. See this post from earlier for details of stage one and then this one for stage two.
We all got a pack of the 16 and a load of addresses of all the artists involved and then had to doctor the cards and send them to each other.I was interested to see how Charlie would display the postcards altogether. I really like what she did. Each set which an artist had doctored and posted off were displayed together in a line, sandwiched between perspex. The space was looking grand, and has had a new door since I was last there.
Here is one of my ones, which has been doctored by someone else. I like Come dine with me, and was thinking this one must be their ideal dinner party list.
The show will be going down to Minni Weisz studio in London for an exhibition in February, which is good news. Thanks for asking me Charlie, it was a lovely distraction for the summer, and great to see it develop into a show.

Quality Streets and Common Ground

2011-01-14T16:14:00.008Z

This week I spoke at the Praxis/PPfC/Staffordshire University conference 'Consequences'/ Which was looking at how practitioners can have an impact through participatory works - and how the activity can lead to change.
I was talking about how the Community research project Quality streets, which I worked on at the end of 2009 to mid 2010 led to the commissioning of 'Common Ground' the public art project which I project managed in June 2010.Quality Streets involved recruiting people from the communities around Hanley Park and training them in Participatory Consultation techniques (I was one of the trainers). They then carried out research in many settings; youth groups, children's centres, events, resident's association meetings.The aim was to find out what people like and don't like about living and working in the areas around Hanley Park, and to find out what changes people would like to see made, and in preparation for the predicted difficult times; to ensure that service providers were equipped with the knowledge of where people would like to see resources targeted. The project was funded in partnership between the council, the police, renew, staffordshire universaity and the safer city partnership.
The research told us a lot about the area, but in particular, people told us that they love Hanley Park, but do not always feel safe there. They said they would like to see the park renovated, and would like to see more events and activities happening in the park.
As a result of the Quality Street project Targeted Support Finding of £10, 000 was secured.
£5,000 was earmarked for further research in the park to be delivered by Groundwork, and the remaining £5,000 was offered to me, to organise an event in the park.
I spoke to the other AirSpace Studio artists, and we decided it would be great if this was our yearly studio artist's show - but we decided that we would also put out a call, to involve other artists; and I was also keen to involve students as well.We decided to aim for 20 projects, paying a commission to each artist. We decided that 2 of the commissions should be for students from the University, and we also decided to reserve £1,000 of the funding in order to create a publication.In the end the event involved 18 artists, delivering 20 projects, we had the support of 10 fantastic volunteers, and had a fabulous weekend in Hanley Park.
Artist Behjat Omer Abdulla kindly offered to make a documentary video of the weekend, and I believe it is a wonderful document, showing the magic that was Common Ground.
Many thanks to Behjat and all the other volunteers who made the weekend a success. The park was a vibrant, exciting place for play for the weekend.

Common Ground from Behjat Omer ABDULLA on Vimeo.

There will be a publication which documents the project will come out next month, and Behjat's video will be inside.

For us the project was a proposition for what could be done for this beautiful Victorian Park, it could become a sculpture park, and a gateway from Stoke-on-Trent station up to the city centre. We have set out this proposal within the publication, and will be sending it to key people in the city; and in particular, those that will be putting together a Heritage Lottery Bid to renovate the park.

Thanks to Tony Jones for the photographs on this post.

Should artists clean windows for money?

2011-01-10T21:54:00.022Z

Today I began a conversation with Rich White.
As the cuts to art funding begin to have massive impacts on the arts, lots of companies, groups and spaces are being forced to close down. Artists will feel the cuts from many sides; companies that previously employed me as a freelance artist have had some of, and in some cases all of their funding cut. Some have had to close their doors. Some of the projects which I thought were in the pipeline did not get their one off arts council funding and so have not gone ahead. Additionally, many artists are employed in education settings, and major cuts to H.E. establishments are having a knock-on effect as the number of hours available for freelance Lecturers dry up. This means paid work for artists is disappearing from all sides.
I struck really lucky in the summer, and secured (what I hope is) a permanent position at a University as a Lecturer in Fine Art, and though I do worry about how I will manage to keep my practice going, I feel that it was very good timing.
I worry about how other artists I know, who do not have secure positions like mine, will survive.
One artist whose work, and approach I particularly admire, Rich White, recently put out a call and email, asking if anyone out there has any freelance work for someone of his skills.
On facebook it purely said:
Rich White:

is back and looking for work. Anyone have any jobs for me?

Funnily enough I had meant to get in touch with Rich anyway, about an event I want to put on in Stoke. The event would be called 'Modes of Practice in an Age of Austerity' - and I wanted to invite Rich (as the idea and title come as a result of the piece he delivered at the Interrogation conference - State of Practice - click here for piece) and Emily Speed (whose A-N blog on 'Getting Paid' is also a major inspiration) I have invited them to come and give a talk, with focus on professionalism, and also on a sort of a code of ethics; - it could be tempting during these times to accept less than fairly paid 'opportunities', and for commissioners to start to exploit artists. I have noticed even more 'exhibition opportunities' than ever asking for a submission fee; and though I understand that spaces are strapped for cash, I am not sure that they should be passing on the costs to the artists whose work they ultimately rely on to keep their programmes afloat. I don't know what the answer is, but we need to discuss it.
The event will involve the two presentations by Emily and Rich, and then a 'manifesto' writing exercise - working with the artists that are there to write our own code of practice/manifesto, to guide us through these tough times, and to help support each other - which brings me back to Rich's call.
I think it shows a very enterprising mind to let people know that you are available, and it got me thinking...
During these times, how do we as artists ensure that we don't get exploited? How do we negotiate with commissioners? How do we stick to our guns even when there is much needed cash on the table?
In order to instigate a conversation around these themes in the run up to the event I decided to make Rich an offer:
I said:

Rich, in response to your message asking if anyone has any jobs for you, I seriously want to offer you the job of cleaning my windows.
I live in a small terraced house in Stoke-on-Trent. I have basically seven windows, although some of them have four panes of glass. I can supply soap, ladder, bucket, squegee and sponge.
What do you thin...k?
I am interested in exploring with you the possibilities offered by the times we are in, money is tight all round, so what does this mean for artists and art commissioners?

I will wait and see where all this might lead...check back here for Rich's response...
Rich has answered my message today (11/1/11)...
He has taken care to make sure he covers a number of issues which this proposition raises within his response.
Rich White:

I've been trying to decide on what my first question should be as I realise that the question I ask would indicate an initial priority (which is something I want to avoid straight away).
So, my questions are (in no particular order):
- Are yo...u proposing that the window cleaning is a kind of Beuysian Social Sculpture happening?
- If we don't already believe it, can we convince ourselves (and others) that this would be an artwork?
- Are you aware that you could get someone from Stoke to do it much cheaper and sooner?
- How much are you offering?
and someone called Rob White (Rich's brother?) has also added:
Salary £40k pa + Benefits: Free Overalls Provided.
So, the conversation is on!
Now how to respond?
I said:

Glad to hear yo...u have no initial priorities, or at least do not wish them to be overt at this stage.
In response to your questions, in no particular order
- I wouldn't like to propose that the window cleaning is a kind of Beuysian Social Sculpture happening yet, as in many ways I think that may be determined by the process of this conversation. I do think myself that any everyday activity can become artwork, depending on the way it is framed and the artists intention.
- I think I already believe that the window cleaning is an artwork, but wonder what other conditions would be necessary to convince others of the same. Could this be something to do with the process of cleaning the windows, how the cleaning of the windows is documented, or perhaps how both you and I approach the activity?
- I could get someone from Stoke to clean my windows and it would probably be achieved sooner and be cheaper, but it was you that asked if anyone had a job for you - and I like your work, so I thought, if I can afford to get you to clean my windows (which do need cleaning) then it would be sort of like killing two birds with one stone. I have also been thinking about the act of commissioning artists, or providing artists with 'opportunities.' Many of the 'opportunities' that are being advertised lately don't really look much like the sort of thing that anyone would want to do - not trying to put you off the windows - but I suppose it is a question of thinking what makes us choose to go for something, or what puts us off.
- How much would you charge? How much seems reasonable for this activity? What would persuade you that it is a good idea?
....
Rich said:

- I think keeping our conceptual options open is good. I agree that everyday activities can be artworks, what I am unsure of is whether such a work fits in with my current practice. Would it be too much of a shift from my current direction...? Not that that is necessarily a problem. Many artists make very diverse works, whilst others stick to a very rigid path. I don't consider myself a 'rigid path' artist, however I like development and progression, and seeing a story of work evolve. I fear that suddenly 'performing' a window cleaning (if that's what this leads to) would appear odd amongst my other work. Basically, is it 'me'? And if it isn't, can it be made 'mine'? Which leads us into the second section...
- Conditions: I'm always wary of art that seems fitted into something for the sake of it. I remember back at university seeing a bunch of students wandering around with sketchbooks looking for some kind of inspiration (I think they'd been set a task). It had just stopped raining and we were under a glass canopy that extended out from the library entrance. One of the students looked up at the glass, which had little rivulets of water trickling over it, and said 'hmmm, water on glass, what could that mean?' to which I thought 'that it's been raining?'
This is the kind of thing I try to avoid. Finding an interesting thing (the pleasant pattern of water running down a slightly tilted pane of glass) and then deciding what it could mean as an artwork. For me the reason has to come first: What is it that I want to say? Then, what is the best way to say it? So for me, being presented with cleaning windows (possibly as an artwork?) and then trying to think through what it could be about is the reverse of how I normally work. In some sense. To you the impetus seemed to come from my call for jobs and the current financial climate, so maybe you felt that the act of commissioning me to clean windows was the fitting medium to express your thoughts. In which case I'm just a material and you are the artist?
- What makes me choose an opportunity? If it is interesting and relevant, if it in some way helps me to progress or develop, if it pays properly. What puts me off? When it doesn't pay properly. Will window cleaning (however it ends up being performed or documented or enacted) be interesting, relevant and progressive?
- Day return fare to Stoke: £50
Subsistence: £15
Fee: £150
TOTAL: £215

- Hallo again Rich, I agree that suddenly performing a window cleaning, in a straight way would seem at odds with your recent works. To me, your approach seems to be to excavate local, (to the site you are working in) historical stories, and then to respond sculpturally; making a temporary intervention. There seems to be something performative about the installation of your works, due to their public sites, but am I right in thinking that this is not of primary concern to you? I do think that to simply come and clean my windows would not fit with how you work, and also I would question it as a viable art work, if that is all there was to it. So how could the cleaning of my windows be made somehow into your work if at all? That is I suppose an important concern here. What conditions would need to be introduced to create a situation where the cleaning of my windows (if that is indeed what you end up doing) could be seen as a viable part of your ongoing practice?
- You said the reason has to come first - the thing that you want to say...and then the thinking of the best way to say it comes after. For me, the thing that wants to be said is something around the value of artist's activity; paying someone adequately for their time, and for the piece of work that they do; and the idea of critiquing opportunities. You are right that the impetus to offer you this 'opportunity' came from your call for jobs - but also I suppose, thinking about my own work as an artist. There is a real blur for me within my work, and in the projects/situations which I am involved in or set up as to what is my work, and what is project management or curation. I have also noticed that quite a few of the things I do involve (to varying degrees) getting other people to do things; try out new or unfamiliar ways of working, looking or walking. I think that in these cases I may provide a situation/framework or activity which creates a space for other people and artists to create something - but I do not think that means that everything they do within that becomes my work, or that I am the artist and them the materials in that situation (I am thinking about There is Beauty in the City and Interrogation for example.)
- In many ways I was most interested as a result of your call to have this conversation around how we choose to respond positively to an opportunity. I think it is interesting that you can be put off by an opportunity not paying properly, yet I know from previous conversations that not all of the opportunities that you accept are paid. The things that attract you are good pay - and here I have asked you for how much you would charge - I think that seems fair. But you also require it to help you to develop or progress as well - and this is going to be the difficulty. How do we make this relevant? I agree that it certainly needs to be. Something that I wondered: my thoughts around these sorts of things generally feed into my practice and outputs - what relationship to your physical practice does your critical thinking have (i.e. State of Practice essay). Is it purely around a personal code of ethics/way of working, or does it feed in in any other ways?
by the way...what if the window cleaning wasnt my house windows but somewhere else?
Rich has replied today: 24/01/2010 - you can also see that I am attempting to file my tax return...

Rich said:

There is a performative aspect to my installations, and this is something I have proposed in a recent application (so maybe window cleaning as an artwork is not too much of a stretch?) but my use of this aspect is as a way of developing the... work as I interact with passers-by whilst I build. The things I build are usually deliberately unusual so people are compelled to ask questions, and I'd like to use these questions to help guide the work, gauge reactions etc. Would people question a person cleaning windows? Maybe, if he was being filmed and/or continuously photographed? So that's were I have to develop the work - I don't want to just clean the windows, it has to create something as well.
I think we can probably agree that the reason for this project is the situation that artists have been faced with following the financial measures implemented by the government. I want to address these issues through my work - as I discussed in 'State Of Practice' - and make works which draw attention to how art and artists are (or are not) valued.
Being put off by opportunities not paying properly is a recent development - I decided last year that I shouldn't do shows for free anymore. This was in-part a small protest - a stance against the exploitation of artists. It is also about being professional, about being taken seriously.
My critical/theoretical thinking goes hand-in-hand with my practice - as I imagine it does for many artists. It guides my work. The things I think about, am interested in, and want to communicate all feed in to my practice. The more I think about the window cleaning the more it becomes part of my practice - it insinuates itself into my ideas. Maybe this what we could work with?
Whose windows do want me to clean? Are you starting a business? Or are you thinking that the location of the windows could be important?
I replied:
hallo Rich, glad to hear that the window cleaning is leaking into your thinking...
I wonder if there is a way of drawing attention to the activity that you are working on, without it having to be continually filmed/photographed? a sign which... states the rate of pay for example?

I think the windows being cleaned could be important actually.
it would be good if I could commission you to go and clean the windows of the dept for culture media and sport or something...since they say they are so strapped for cash and are slashing funding to the arts from all sides, perhaps new work for artists in the UK could involve cleaning windows after all?
Rich said 28/01/11:
I think documentation would be important, but it's not necessarily the thing that makes it a work. Signs are interesting, and a sign that states the rather confounding rate of pay could look quite intriguing.
When you mentioned cleaning the ...windows of the DCMS the first thing I thought was 'what if I paint over the windows?' Possibly in white like the old Nuclear War survival suggestion. Then I thought that clarity is what is required (not blindness) so maybe paint the windows over first - as an aggressive gesture - and then clean them afterwards, but adding some kind of poignancy to whole process? Not sure how?

and I replied 01/02/11:
I wonder how far you could get with cleaning the windows of the DCMS, let alone painting them.
I think in many ways the idea of artists(YOU) being commissioned by the private sector (ME) which is what is being called for is quite pertinent. ...The DCMS will benefit from privately funded art works as the country will still be cultural - especially if artists start to fund and support other artists, or artists accept bad/no pay and still make work - we are again making the DCMS look good out of our hard graft, without them having to invest in us. So for you to go and clean their windows would be you making them look good. by the way - the money I propose to use to pay you will come from my tax rebate.
I added on 07/02/11
by the way Rich, Glen says if you end up doing this, he would be happy to come down and document the activity - what do you think?