a-n Magazine June 2012

celebrating last ever issue of a-n magazine stimulating and supporting visual arts practice since 1980 embracing change and new approaches continuing to provide good things launching what’s coming next

June 2012 ÂŁ5.95/ 8.55

same aspiration Different format a-n is going to continue to do all the same good things for art and artists but just in new and different ways.

New news service launches July.

To keep up to date with progress a-n.co.uk/whats_next #anwhatsnext

JUNE 2012

4 Editorial 5 Then & Now: Professional practice 7 News 12 Then & now: Collaboration 14 Art in unconventional settings 17 Postgraduate focus 18 Then & Now: Artist-led 21 Rewards and challenges – S Mark Gubb interviews Chris Brown 22 Celebrating a-n’s achievements 24 Snapshot – exhibitions and events across the summer 28 Reviews – Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012, Utopia in Retrospect, 3 Films 32 Opportunities 37 Art services

ON THE COVER

IN in thIS this ISSUE issue Then & Now Features highlighting a-n's core themes and concerns and the wealth of intelligence in our rich archive.

Professional practice Professional and critical practices in art courses analysed: John Carson from a-n Magazine April 1999 and Sarah Rowles from her recent study for a-n.

Collaboration Front: David Shrigley, What The Hell Are You Doing? originally featured as the cover image to What the Hell Are You Doing?: The Essential David Shrigley, published

by Canongate, 2010.

Back: David Shrigley, Progress.

We're delighted to feature David Shrigley's work on front and back cover of this final issue.

His work featured in the November 1991 issue of Artists Newsletter (the forerunner to a-n Magazine) when “Students and staff from Glasgow School of Art sculpture and environmental art departments [took] part in a scheme to create sculpture for Callendar Business Park, Falkirk” (see photo).

Asked in our 1999 interview, “Is there an end to your drawings, can they go on forever?”

Shrigley responded “They’ve gone on forever so far. I think I’ll always make drawings because I’ve always liked doing it. Sometimes I get bored with it, I go and make some sculpture for a while, but I always go back to it.” The faxed interview, with the artist’s hand-written responses, was reproduced in that year’s December issue. The framed original is now on display at a-n’s Newcastle office.

www.davidshrigley.com twitter.com/davidshrigley

Chris Fremantle discusses the contexts for and characteristics of collaboration and from a-n Magazine May 1998, six artists describe their approaches and concerns.

Artist-led ‘By and for artists’ – Sovay Berriman on Alias, plus outcomes from NAN’s Futurific Bursaries; and from a-n Magazine July 1998, four artist-run organisations respond to the then Arts Council of England policy document, Visual Arts A.

WITH THIS ISSUE a-n Magazine, September 1980 First ever issue of a-n Magazine available at www.a-n.co.uk/issue_one (PDF and Flip-page versions)

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | EDITORIAL

Editorial “AN will be an open line communication shared by all interested parties. It has not the resources nor the wish to be a one-way information service. It will be a clearing house for practical information and a means of raising issues significant to visual artists. The format is not fixed and will adapt and change according to the response and opinions of artists.”1 So wrote founder Richard Padwick in the first ever issue, published in September 1980, price 35p. He predicted the need for a-n’s formats to be responsive and thus shift, whilst remaining true to core principles.

We are marking the final issue of a-n Magazine and embarking on new ventures – exploring the increasingly fluid and open platforms that technology offers, to ensure we find the very best ways to stimulate and support visual arts practice into the future.

This special issue celebrates the journey we’ve been on and heralds the launch this summer of dedicated web-based news on a-n.co.uk. A freshly appointed News Editor and inquisitive, proactive coverage of the spectrum of the visual arts will continue to champion artist-led and independent activity. Bright and informative news bulletins, highlights of key content and signposts to longer reading will ensure you stay ‘in the know’ on all vital matters.

This is the first of many good things to come. Work continues steadily to create enhanced online and face-to-face experiences for our many artist and freelance members, including new tools and professional development opportunities to support collaboration and the making, finding and funding of new work. Augmenting the dedicated online platforms, our emphasis is on a ‘collective’ approach, working with and through our members and partner organisations, offering multiple perspectives and many, varied routes for active participation.

We look forward to continuing our relationship working with you in this bold, new phase.

Gillian Nicol Head of Programmes and Editor 1 Read the first ever issue of a-n in flip-book format at: www.a-n.co.uk/issue_one

special thanks Although very many individuals now and in the past have given their best to or contributed hugely to a-n Magazine, with this the very last issue, I’d like to extend some special thanks: firstly to Gillian Nicol who started with the magazine way back in 1999 and has blossomed and grown into the company’s Editor and Head of Programmes, then to Chris Brown for his insightful coordination and curation of content, and to Neil Southern who with huge patience and good humour has taken responsibilty for the magazine’s layout and production since 1990. And last but not least to Stephen Palmer, remarkable for his leadership and training of the successive members of the editorial production team, his knowledge as a practising artist of contemporary arts concerns and practice, and his ability to succeed despite all the many pressures and challenges.

You’re all a pleasure to work with.

Bigger bounce. Commissioned by a-n The Artists Information Company, artist Anton Hecht worked with staff and freelancers to create this short textual work reflecting the company’s approach to partnership and collaborative working in the visual arts. www.youtube.com/ANartistsinfo

Susan Jones Publisher a-n The Artists Information Company

Professional practice | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

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Professional practice Highlighting a-n’s core interests and concerns and wealth of intelligence in our rich archive.

In 1999 John Carson made a passionate call for a more rigorous approach to arming graduating art students with knowledge of where their work and practice fitted within the wider world and interfaced with audiences. Sarah Rowles, commissioned by a-n to research the state of professional practice provision on BA fine and applied art courses, offers a perspective on the situation now.

Comment a-n Magazine April 1999 We live in a country that congratulates itself on its philistinism, where the tabloids like to whip up public indignation and suggest contemporary art is a con trick. Within this cultural climate, visual artists are producing something generally considered to be unnecessary. If we believe that art is vital and integral, then there is more to be done than just the production of the work. We must consider the relevance of art and its means of connection with the society in which we live.

The conception, production, presentation, mediation and reception of visual art is determined by the values and structures of the society from which it emerges. Consequently, it would seem to make sense for aspiring artists to have an awareness of the factors governing their work. It is not enough at art school to be teaching students how to make art. We need to ask them why they are making art and who it is for, and what does the work mean beyond their own delusions and the sacrosanct studios of the fine art department. Students need to understand the mechanics of interface between art and audience and how audiences are created.

How do we effectively prepare art students for what they will face when they leave college? The traditional way has been to send them out to sink

It is not enough at art school to be teaching students how to make art. We need to ask them why they are making art and who it is for, and what does the work mean beyond their own delusions and the sacrosanct studios of the fine art department. or swim, with geniuses floating to the top by divine favour – a somewhat curious approach when no swimming lessons have been provided.

The territory for art today is anywhere and everywhere. Artists have to be multi-skilled and flexible, needing to know how to effectively manage time and information, and how to deal with diverse collaborators. Artists have to think creatively in order to survive. It is a precarious profession which offers no security or guarantees.

Historically, there hasn’t been a lot of work done on fine art graduate destinations. Some recent and current surveys are revealing useful detail.

However we do not need a detailed survey to tell us that only a few graduates are ever going to make a living solely from their artwork. Artistic talent is no guarantee of success. Artistic success can owe as much to fashion, good luck, astute management and braggadocio, as talent or quality of education. Critical and commercial validation systems need to select only a few young contenders or pretenders each year to sustain the academy and the market. So what about the others?

Generally, our society equates fame with success. Is success necessarily public visibility or money in the bank? You can be a critical success and still have an overdraft. Could success be defined in terms of personal goals and achievements and not just artworld kudos? Whilst encouraging the highest ambition, we also need to prepare students for the realities of what lies beyond art school. If a fine art course is just about producing two or three famous artists every year, then it is a tremendous waste of resources, emotion and energy.

Whilst the system must produce artists, it is also about the creation of a broader constituency of those who will support and promote the visual arts and sustain a visual arts culture. It must provide an all round education which will create a general social and cultural awareness and impart transferable skills to enable graduates to make a living if they are not making a fortune out of their artwork.

Because there is no predetermined career path or definitive map, there are a myriad of routes, all requiring a degree of self-motivation and resilience.

Coping with change and uncertainty has long been fundamental to the artist’s existence. For some, this may be daunting. For others, the unpredictability is the very attraction. It provides the impetus for exploration, discovery and creativity.

In April 1999, artist John Carson was Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Central St Martin’s College of Art & Design, involved in research into effective incorporation of professional practice in fine art education. He co-organised ‘Out of the Bubble’, a symposium held at Central St Martins in March of that year which examined the role of contextual and professional practice in visual arts education.

He is currently Head of the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.

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The lay of the land Sarah Rowles discusses attitudes to professional practice on BA fine and applied art courses in the UK. Every year, hundreds of new art graduates up-sticks from all around the UK, leaving behind friends, family and location in which they studied to head to the bright lights of London – a global art capital with more than sixteen art colleges, hundreds of artists’ collectives and a ready-made exhibiting scene of 300+ galleries. They join the thousands of art students who studied in the capital as I did, in pursuit of ‘making it’ as an artist. And though this may not actually happen, London’s allure is that it does at least propose the possibility.

At the beginning of 2011, I interviewed BA fine and applied art staff in the UK about their approaches to and provision for professional practice.

How do they prepare students for making a living after graduation?

I was interested in how the impending rise in tuition fees and government emphasis on enterprise and employability is manifesting itself. I was keen to find out what the strategies are outside of London, where the art scene is less palpable, with the notorious problem of losing graduates to the capital.

I found that colleges in some areas who lacked a single art gallery has a strong relationship with the local council – often negotiating empty shop spaces and most noticeably platforms for live, socially-engaged or public art practice within wider cultural festivals. In such cases, modules on ‘audiences’ featured quite prominently within the BA. The lack of a default ‘art audience’ as in London means that students are asked to think in detail about who the audiences for their work could be, how and where they might reach them and how they might even create them. With this freedom, I saw examples of student-audience focus groups in nightclubs and nursing homes, residencies in other college departments or local workplaces as well as several web-based and participation-focused alternatives to the traditional exhibition context.

Whilst some course leaders told me that instead of London they point graduates to opportunities in mainland Europe, others felt an increasing responsibility towards developing the local arts ecology for the benefit of current and prospective students, graduates and for the city as a whole.

Students are more likely to study and stay on in a place with a vibrant arts scene; which in turn aims to reach and develop new audiences and potential buyers, as well as create work opportunities for graduates. To sew the seeds for this, colleges are building links with local art organisations, forging student placement opportunities and talk programmes. Faculty Industry Learning Groups are bringing staff from such organisations into course curriculum design and teaching. Courses are keen to show students examples of recent graduates who have set up organisations locally and to encourage them to do the same – this in many cases with assistance from the institutions’ enterprise departments.

Through course handbooks and reflective journals, students are increasingly being made aware of skills gained within their art course and their transferablity to other work situations.

JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | Professional practice

Whether the increasing number of self-organised artists’ collectives and creation of alternative educational environments can be attributed to fees, recession or any ‘crisis’ in art education though, remains to be seen.

The sense of guilt that has for years plagued those students who chose not to continue practising as an artist after their degree seems to be eroding.

Efforts to help students survive as graduates are genuine. Career options are now being presented both within and beyond the immediate sector.

Through course handbooks and reflective journals, students are increasingly being made aware of skills gained within their art course and their transferablity to other work situations. Some course websites write about these and present a variety of career options, making prospective students, parents and employers aware of the wider value of art education.

There are concerns though. Whilst staff are keen to foster links in local areas and encourage students to think about and build audiences, there are fears over what could be seen as the instrumentalisation of the subject and they insist there must be a balance struck between this and the essential role of the arts to ‘agitate’. Concerns were also raised around the term ‘vocational’, increasingly used in the same sentence as art education.

There’s also a worry about defining too clearly the potential career paths for students in the face of a changing and unpredictable jobs climate. I was surprised though at the ease of which many people used the term – particularly when championing professional practice and highlighting art education’s long-standing relationship to industry. As one member of staff said: “We’re all completely relaxed with the word ‘vocational’. If you go back 125 years we had art schools in every provincial town in England to promote good design in support of local industry – following the example of Prince Albert in the Great Exhibition... The relationship between art and design education and industry has always been there only now the industry has changed. The industry we work to now isn’t local anymore, the main industries now are CREATIVE UK”.

Rising tuition fees present a challenge, although their impact is as yet speculative.

Whether the increasing number of self-organised artists’ collectives and creation of alternative educational environments can be attributed to fees, recession or any ‘crisis’ in art education though, remains to be seen.

Globally however we are seeing power shifts, whereby top down, opaque and hierarchical institutions are crumbling in the face of bottom-up, transparent, peer-led and value-driven collaborations. Are the alternatives and challenges we are seeing a reflection of art catching up with this trend? Examples given hint at exciting developments in which the characteristics of transparency and collaboration are being prioritised. I wonder if we now are moving towards the development of a more open, localised and geographically spread arts ecology, this in place of a dominant centre and value system that created by a few, has been imposed upon us and alienated far too many, for far too long.

Sarah Rowles was commissioned by a-n to research the current state of professional practice provision in UK BA fine and applied art courses. She is Director of Q-Art London www.q-artlondon.com, author of 12 Gallerists: 20 Questions and 11 Course Leaders: 20 Questions, and weekend manager at Peckham Space, London.

NEWS | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

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Keeping you up-to-date with developments in the visual arts environment including: funding, government and European policy; changes in law and taxation; artist-led organisation and workplace developments; new awards, residencies, commissions; prize winners and bursary recipients and more.

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You choose the winner Woolgather are Leeds-based artists John Slemensek, Annie Nelson and Chris Woodward. They founded the Woolgather Art Prize in 2011 ‘from a need to explore the artist’s role in society and to celebrate the creative lifestyle’. With its tagline ‘You choose the winner’, the prize is aimed at and for the public – winners are decided entirely by votes from the viewing audience and engagement is sought from as broad a demographic as possible. Woolgather aim to remove barriers and preconceptions about contemporary art while supporting the creativity and ambition of emerging artists around them.

Woolgather’s untiring make-it-happen approach embraces transparency, honesty and peer-to-peer support. In its inaugural year the prize was entirely self-funded and relied on the generosity of Leeds’ community of artists and designers to bring the event together. Rather than paying submission fees, shortlisted artists were asked to give their works away to the public at the end of the show. This spirit of generosity and inclusivity paid off – over 1,000 visitors came to the transformed high-street shop to see the exhibition and cast their votes, many of whom had never been to an art gallery before.

“We wanted every single member of the public to know they were welcome” says Slemensek.

This week the Woolgather Prize returns to Leeds for its second edition. Bigger, bolder and with funding generated through a Sponsume campaign as well as from Arts Council England, this year’s prize attracted over 300 applications, and has resulted in an ambitious survey show of work by twenty-six UK artists taking place over a three-storey former events venue near the city’s bus station.

All exhibited artists stand a chance of winning one of three cash prizes of £1000, £500 and £250. Accompanying the exhibition is a website and publication featuring works by the shortlisted artists.

The team’s successful Sponsume campaign – which raised £3,341, 110% of their £3,000 target – has helped boost the project’s credibility on a national level. “You need to really believe in what you’re doing so that you can feel comfortable asking for a helping hand” John Slemensek advises. “Honesty and openness is so essential, don’t take for granted what people are giving”.

The team maintained an open dialogue with their backers, using their website and Facebook page to post photos of their activities so people felt part of the enterprise. “And keep it personal” he adds. Slemensek, Nelson and Woodward all featured in their campaign video, which parodies the familiar ‘sponsor a dog’ charity message. “We used humour to keep the video light-hearted – a no-pressure approach. But at the same time it was important to convey our underlying motivation and belief in the project.”

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Alfie Strong is one of the artists on the 2012 shortlist: “It is interesting to have a piece of work in something like the Woolgather Art Prize. My work is usually invested in one-night openings at artist-led spaces, it has had little or no reception from a wider public audience, so I will be keen to see how my thoughts and work translate to a new demographic. I am also intrigued to see what becomes of the prize, it’s a very young project and naturally has a lot of growing room and I am sure, teething problems. Will it remain true to its humble roots or will it become about nominators, selection panels, longlists, shortlists and the critics’ choice?”

Woolgather are also wary of letting the Prize grow too fast, and of the project taking time away from their own artistic development and priorities.

They are considering a wholly different event format for next year, something that gets back to responding directly to their social environment. “There lies the beauty and potential of such a promisingly raw yet rapidly blossoming art prize” says Strong, “that is taking positive steps in all the right directions.”

www.woolgatherartprize.com Woolgather Prize 2012 shortlist, selected by John Slemensek, Annie Nelson and Chris Woodward: Alfie Strong, Andy Nizinskyi, Augustinas Naslenas, Chloe Plumb & Ned Patten, Claire Holyoake, Dominic Heffer, Edwin Li, Eleanor Leonne Bennett, Emily Towler, Gin Durham, Holly English, Hondartza Fraga, Howard Gardener, Jin Eui Kim, Karen Logan, Lex Thomas, Mike Ballard, Nathan Evans, Rob Youngson, Sarah Gillham, Sean Williams, Sooim Jeong, Steve Nice, Suok Won Yoon, Topical Jungle and Victoria Youngson.

Oriel Davis prizewinners announced Newtown-based gallery have announced the winners of its Open 2012 competition. First Prize winner Melanie Manchot receives a £1,500 cash prize and the opportunity to present a body of work in a solo exhibition in 2013.

Mary Vettise wins the Student Prize, £750 cash and solo exhibition opportunity in 2013. During the course of the exhibition visitors are invited to vote for their favourite work in The People’s Choice Prize. This £250 award will be announced in early August. Exhibition continues until 27 June.

www.orieldavies.org www.melaniemanchot.net showtime.arts.ac.uk/maryvettise 1 Alfie Strong, 12601390, 2011,. Installation view of ‘The Distance Between Life as we Dream it and Life as it is: The Early works of Alfie Strong’ at theartmarket and Kunstfreund Gallery, Leeds 2011.

2 Mary Vettise, Decommissioned, video, 6’47”, 2011.

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | NEWS

Summer photo round-up 1 Hew Locke, Serpent of the Nile (detail) on a billboard in Central Deptford.

Photo: Rebecca Smart Deptford X Festival, 27 July - 12 August. For 2012, its fourteenth year, Deptford X will be working with lead artist-curators Hew Locke and Indra Khanna. The festival will include new work

by Hew Locke, as well as exhibitions by Doug Jones, Chicago based artist Dzine, Henna Nadeem and Hidden Noise, as well as an extensive fringe programme.

www.deptfordx.org 2 Magnus Quaife, Untitled (Je Participe), 50x70cm, watercolour on paper, 2010.

3 Magnus Quaife, Untitled (Paris Riots), 50x70cm, watercolour on paper, 2009.

4 Magnus Quaife, Untitled (Why We Strike), 50x70cm, watercolour on paper, 2009. Photos: Jamie Woodley. Courtesy: WORKS|PROJECTS

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Magnus Quaife, ‘1968 and Other Myths’ at WORKS | PROJECTS, Bristol until 16 June.

Quaife’s new series of paintings considers the power of the image in relation to events or moments that have helped shape our cultural myths. The series marries images of student protests, rock concerts, art performances and political rallies with the seemingly insignificant and forgotten to create a new kind of history painting which investigates the separation of the images from their meaning.

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www.worksprojects.co.uk 5 Guy Allott, Barricade, 61x71cm, oil on linen, 2012. Courtesy: Madder139 ‘Guy Allott: Super States’ is at Madder139, London until 28 June. This new series of paintings and sculpture – in which the very distant past and the far-flung future merge – marks the artist’s ‘return’ to London after solo shows in Los Angeles, Remargen, Germany and Leicester, UK. 2

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www.madder139.com 6 Bedwyr Williams, Liebesgarten, two electric toothbrushes, sink and audio, 2012. Courtesy: the artist and Ceri Hand Gallery Bedwyr Williams solo show ‘My Bad’ is at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham until 8 July. Drawing its title from an American vernacular phrase for admitting fault, the exhibition – Williams’ most comprehensive show to date – is comprised largely of newly commissioned installation and sculptural pieces, marking a departure from the artist’s previous concerns with Wales and ‘Welshness’.

www.ikon-gallery.co.uk

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NEWS | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

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7 AL and AL, The Creator, video, 2012.

The Creator is a new work by filmmakers AL and AL exploring the visionary dreams of the creator of computers and pioneer of Artificial Intelligence, Alan Turing. Marking the centenary of Turing’s birth, the 45 minute long-form short will screen at Cornerhouse, Manchester on 23 June, then during the Abandon Normal Devices Festival, which runs 29 August – 2 September.

www.andfestival.org.uk 8 The Hut Project, The Look of Performance, video, 7:06:17, 2012 ‘Assembly’ is a Jerwood Encounters exhibition presenting new works by Kim Coleman & Jenny Hogarth, The Hut Project and Charlie Woolley – artists who work collaboratively and are influenced by digital communication technologies and the changing digital landscape.

‘Assembly’ explores the influence of the constantly shifting platform of the internet on artists’ practices, and how work made in an increasingly hyper-connected world is reconciled within the context of a physical gallery space.

Until 24 June.

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jvaassembly.co.uk 9 Giuseppe Penone: Ideas of Stone, bronze and stone, 2004/2010.

Photo: Roman Mensing dOCUMENTA (13) opens to the public in Kassel on June 9. For 100 days, over 150 artists from 55 countries will gather and present works, including sculpture, performance, installation, research, archiving and curatorial projects, painting, photography, film and video, text and audio works as well as other objects and experiments in the fields of art, politics, literature, philosophy, and science. “the 13th edition of documenta will be a surprising stage to present questions that shape our notion of life in the present.”

d13.documenta.de

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10 Tom Hammick, Burning Bush, reduction woodcut, 2012.

Courtesy: Eagle Gallery, London.

Tom Hammick, Haroon Mirza and Jennifer E Price are the three shortlisted artists for the Daiwa Foundation Art Prize 2012. They will be exhibiting work at Daiwa Foundation, Japan House, London from 8 June - 19 July. Judges of the prize this year are Martin Gayford, Mami Kataoka, Grayson Perry, Masami Shiraishi and Jonathan Watkins. The winning artist will be announced at a private awards ceremony on 7 June, and will be invited to exhibit at SCAI THE BATHHOUSE, Tokyo in the autumn.

www.dajf.org.uk/grants-awards-prizes/daiwafoundation-art-prize

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | NEWS

Digital craft innovation

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With potential to replace the need for specialised and time-consuming grant applications or other more formal and traditional fundraising techniques, the phenomenon of crowd-funding has been quickly embraced by an increasing number of artists as a way to generate and distribute funds.

One such artist is Scottish designer-maker Ann Marie Shillito. As CEO and founder of Anarkik3D, a creative enterprise which develops haptic products, she has recently embarked on a crowdfunding campaign with IndieGoGo to access both software and 3D printing technologies and to launch this digital craft modelling tool in the US. Fascinated by the ready availability of digital technology and by the possibility of 3D printing contributing to her creative process, the Edinburgh based contemporary jeweller was inspired to create Cloud9, a 3D modelling platform for studio artists and designers. Shillito describes the technology behind 3D printing as ‘additive’ in the sense that “the object is constructed layer by layer by layer, gradually adding more material until the ‘real’ shape of the virtual object is achieved.” She goes on to explain: “There are several 3D printing concepts and technology types all working differently. Some processes use a liquid medium such as resin hardened by laser, or extruded through a nozzle, others use powder that is ‘glued’ with a medium, or granules fused together by laser. Other processes introduce the medium in sheets, such as paper or plastic that are cut into the exact profile and glued to the previous profile.”

The digital modelling experience of her Cloud 9 project includes 3D touch feedback and reflects the way a maker customarily undertakes the fluid, organic exploration of their conceptual ideas. “Cloud 9 is a virtual 3D digital sketchbook,” explains Shillito. “It taps into the tacit knowledge and skills a craftsperson has accumulated through manipulating physical materials to provide a more familiar approach to modelling virtual 3D forms.”

As is the case with many start-ups in the current economic climate, Anarkik3D has struggled to raise the capital the company needs to optimise and develop the platform. It has therefore turned to crowdfunding for investment to help complete the next phase of development. An alternative to equity investment, crowd-funding is a mutually beneficial way of supporting projects with a sliding scale of perks or deals, offered in return for donations at various levels.

Among those perks, including 3D printed collectibles, Anarkik3D’s IndieGoGo contributors have the opportunity to receive the groundbreaking software, the haptic hardware and programming updates as they are released during development. Funding received will be for software optimisation.

Join the digital manufacturing revolution with Anarkik3D’s introductory a-n member offer: 15% discount on Cloud9 and course tuition. Offer ends 30 August 2012.

www.anarkik3d.co.uk/a-n Follow the campaign, chart its progress and benefit from the deals at www.indiegogo/anarkik3d www.anarkik3d.co.uk

Unravelling the National Trust Unravelling the National Trust, devised by artist-run organisation Unravelled, is a three-year project taking place in Nymans House and Gardens; Uppark House and Garden in West Sussex; and The Vyne in Hampshire between 2012-14. It forms part of the Trust New Art programme taking place at selected National Trust properties across England.

The programme starts at Nymans in the High Weald of Sussex, where a series of commissioned site-specific works create interventions within the historic house and gardens, which were designed and developed by three generations of the Messel family. All twelve artists use or subvert the notion of craft: Lauren Frances Adams, Lucy Brown, David Cheeseman, Steven Follen, Sally Freshwater, Gavin Fry, Caitlin Heffernan, Guy Holder, Matt Smith, Alec Stevens, James Sutton and Julian Walker.

Offering an unusual perspective to the story of the house, the artists also reveal something of its history and bring to life the members of the intriguing Messel family. The Messels had a interest in theatrical pursuits, and in the halcyon days before the war turned Nymans into a stage set and a playground paradise for fantasy and dressing up. They liked to commission beautiful costumes and put on grand productions, often for their own entertainment. The Unravelled artists found a rich archive of inspiring material including scrapbooks, clippings and photographs, the majority of which were of Oliver Messel and his sister Anne Messel, the 6th Countess of Rosse.

Guy Holder has created a very English spectacle of a table centerpiece in blue and white porcelain, inspired by the Oriental supper service already in situ. Holder refers to Field of Vision as “a promiscuous exotic arrangement” with elements, including fallen birds and flora and fauna, drawn from various parts of the estate.

Lucy Brown’s installations were inspired by Maud and Anne Messel; and Maud’s lady’s maid Miss Barbara Adamson (Addy) and her silent, loyal role as employee. Both Maud and Anne were talented, creative and highly skilled costume/dressmakers, embroiderers and designers with a passion for collecting, preserving and archiving textiles, dress, antiques – as well as their lives and family heritage. The installations consist of a vintage garment woven sculpture, a short film and small woven hair mementos.

Steven Follen has used the shapes of pine cones and a monkey puzzle tree in the grounds to create a suspended light feature which hangs in the front porch area to welcome visitors.

Follen’s light replaces the original and is inspired by the curves of an urn, the patterns and forms of the plants, and the shapes of fans.

Unravelling Nymans runs until 31 December 2012.

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/nymans www.unravelled.org.uk 1 Lucy Brown, i serve only you…, human hair, vintage embroidery threads, early 1900s steel hair curlers, 2012. Photo: Sussie Ahlbeurg

A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | Collaboration

Collaboration Highlighting a-n’s long-running interests and the wealth of historical knowledge held in our archive.

Collaboration has long been explored at a-n through diverse features and series exploring different aspects to this key mode of working in the arts. Here, Chris Fremantle offers his reflections on collaboration, having mined a-n’s archive of Collaborative relationships articles.

Alongside are edited extracts from May 1998 feature ‘Collaborations: definitions and dialogues’ showing artists’ perspectives at that time.

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Reflections on collaboration

‘Our name is legion’, Kelly Large’s project for Beacon, involved working with secondary schools in Sleaford, Lincolnshire. The resulting artwork required a large number of young people from two schools to do something they do anyway, pour out of school into Market Square, the centre of town, but to do it in a way that revealed itself more clearly: they all wore high visibility vests between leaving school and arriving home. As Kelly Large says, “This would either create a spectacle of participation or non-participation depending on whether students chose to take part.”

Chris Fremantle asks what it is and who’s doing it.

Collaboration is a description of a relationship, or perhaps it’s a description of a quality of relationship. Artists are continually in or developing relationships with others whether with their audiences, patrons, collectors, commissioners, project managers, curators, funders or technicians.

‘Relationship’ in this context disguises the reality of ‘power relations’.

Artists very often see themselves as without much power. Most relationships are with others who are perceived to have more power (ie all of those listed above). Is the word ‘collaboration’ then a description of a new dynamic between artists and those with whom they have to have relationships, or at least a signal of hope for that?

John Plowman, artist, co-founder, and curator for Beacon, a visual arts organisation working in rural Lincolnshire, frames this clearly in ‘Our name is legion’ (June 2009), “Whether it is the gallery, museum or commissioning agency, a space is created within which three constituencies – artist, institution and audience – co-exist in a hierarchical framework.”

He goes on to say, “This is a framework that Beacon has engaged with since 2004, where the notion of collaboration has underpinned the nature of each of its projects to date. Projects which, rather than privileging the art object per se, focus on the exchanges that take place between the artist, institution, and audience.”

Kelly Large, an artist who worked with John Plowman on a Beacon project, says by way of counterpoint: “I’m not a collaborator, I just get mistaken for one a lot. I suspect this is because my practice interacts with the social. … I want to use this colonisation of public space to explore the power-play between the multitude and the individual, and the visibility or invisibility these positions afford in different social arenas.”

Collaboration, conceptually and literally, reframes power relations. When talking about individuals, collaboration implies shared aims and objectives, win-win, equality. Collaboration in a work of art (as opposed to between two or more individuals) is perhaps less clearly about equality or win-win, and might be simply about willingness to be involved in making or revealing something.

So is that collaboration? Who is collaborating? Who ‘wins’ and what do they ‘win’? What does equality mean?

Chris Fremantle is Co-Producer with Trigger (Suzy Glass and Angie Bual) for PAR+RS, Creative Scotland’s public art development project www.publicartscotland.com This extract is taken from ‘Reflections on collaboration’ by Chris Fremantle who was commissioned to mine a-n’s archive of some thirty-five interviews between artists and their collaborators published within the ‘Collaborative relationships’ series. Launched in 2008, the ‘Collaborative relationships Index’ will be continuing as an online resource to guide and inform future development of visual arts practice including the a-n Granted professional development seminars and resources.

We welcome your collaboration as a submission for online publication.

These should be in the form of one 600 word piece each from the practitioner and commissioner, curator or project manager discussing the working relationship, the intentions for and delivery of a project and the issues and outcomes arising from the engagement.

References Download Chris Fremantle’s essay at www.a-n.co.uk/reflections_on_collaboration www.a-n.co.uk/collaborative_relationships_index

Collaboration | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

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Collaboration is experienced, like conversation. Can the nature of conversation provide an analogy to aid a qualitative definition of collaborative processes? Both are subjective processes dependent on individual exchange, experience and their context. We bring our individual frames of reference and leave with our own interpretations. How can we begin to develop methods which address these qualitative processes?

Karen Scopa

Collaborations: definitions and dialogues a-n Magazine May 1998 Increasingly, interdisciplinary or collaborative working processes are being used by artists, both as a means of extending their knowledge and personal experience and to create partnerships in which artists move beyond the close confines of the art world and can more readily address social, political and environmental concerns, we asked six artists, for whom collaborative working is a driving force, to describe their approaches and concerns and to provide some analysis of the issues an questions which have arisen.

There is little doubt that addressing the key issues of ecology, sustainability, urban crisis, cultural and racial tensions is increasingly urgent as we approach the Millennium. By their very nature, they require an interdisciplinary approach and international dimension.

Our approach is a philosophy-in-practice of an art of engagement: concerned with ideas, issues, processes and products of transformation.

It is people centred and critical. By critical, we mean that meanings and identities should not be prey to superficial stereotypes, that mechanisms and processes are established to allow the lived, changing, complex and problematised identities to emerge. It is about empowerment. In that sense it is a political as much as an artistic statement.

Peter Dunn

New material and production technologies are pushing design away from an individual to group activity. As it becomes increasingly difficult for one person to have all the skills and knowledge, we are now seeing teams brought together involving people with expertise from very different areas, such as design, technology and manufacture... We brought together twenty-five people who were interested in smart materials for an application-led workshop. Participants included product and fashion designers, artists, engineers, architects, technologists, cognitive scientists, manufacturing, academic and commercial researchers. The end product is ideas, knowledge and relationships.

Marie O’Mahony

The motivation for working together is really less to do with bringing different skills to bear upon a common problem but rather, it is this immediacy of response encountered in the discussion of ideas, combined with the consummate otherness of thought which the collaborative partner brings.

In an ongoing collaborative process this otherness is significantly both empirical and constructed. This is because one experiences the otherness of the collaborator as a raw fact and as an accumulated set of imagined projections. Quite literally, the collaborator is both a real and imagined other.

For this process to have any value there needs to be a high degree of intimacy between collaborators, and this supposes a close relationship built up over time. So in collaborating with other artists, an individual is entering into a creative act both with other individuals as well as one’s own constructed idea of those individuals. Further more the notion that the collaborator is an imagined other works exponentially throughout a group practice. The multiplication of identities which occurs as a result of the experiences and ideas resolved through a collaborative practice goes some way towards explaining why the origin of any particular work is indeterminable. The appeal of collaborative practice is in part its implications for notions of authorship, originality and the continuing erosion of the centred self.

Ian Rawlinson and Nick Crowe

As with any undertaking, ambition and the inevitable compromises must be negotiated. This aspect of the process reveals the diverse priorities and motivations amongst partners and, if power is synonymous with ownership, this is when you discover if your forces are truly aligned. I would hope that good collaboration promotes and equality of ownership, and if I want art to be social and transformative, I need to work within this form.

Jozefa Rogocki

I work in any permutation of art and political-economy and am witness to the acute asymmetry of knowledge and poverty of mutual respect between the two spheres. Collaborations provide a structure in which a polylogue between artists, policy-makers, academics, business people, policital activists and ‘the public’ can develop.

Like democracy, art can give people a public voice. However, art can more comfortably pose questions without imposing a solution. Like government, artists have a responsibility to their public and since they live in the same world, that translates to a responsibility to each other. Both art and the political-economy suffer from exclusivity. Collaborative work can create windows in that exclusivity.

Christina Kepernik-Stekel

Read the full article at www.a-n.co.uk/publications/article/2221922/73720

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1,2 Kelly Large, Production shot from Our Name is Legion, video, 2009.Photo: Charlotte Pratley. Courtesy: the artist and Beacon 3 Preparatory image for Project for the River Medlock by Nick Crowe, Graham Parker and Ian Rawlinson.

Commissioned by Henry Moore Foundation and Tate Liverpool, the completed work, including ambient sound, was presented at Artranspennine98, May – August 1998.

JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | Beyond the gallery

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Art in unconventional settings A round-up of projects that explore approaches to making and siting art beyond conventional white cube spaces – from travelling fairgrounds and riverboat processions to site-responsive installations and public sculpture.

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The Gloucester Road Commissions provide invited artists with the opportunity to create ambitious, temporary new work in response to Art on the Underground’s flagship site, which has over one million visitors each month.

For the twelfth Gloucester Road Tube Station commission, internationally renowned artist Sarah Morris will create an epic work for the eighteen brick arches that extend the length of the disused sub-surface platform. As trains enter the station, travelers will experience an evolving spectrum of geometry and colour that unites in a striking and abstract reflection on London’s past and future. The artwork will be on display from mid-June.

Recognised for her complex paintings and installations that distill and decode the architecture and psychology of urban environments, Sarah Morris’s commission for Gloucester Road derives from a painting of Big Ben she created for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As an iconic marker of the capital’s history and architecture, as well as a symbol of movement and time, Morris’s expression of Big Ben connects both the Underground and the 2012 Games. Morris’s almost filmic treatment of Gloucester Road Station in Big Ben (2012), conceives London as a complex grid of non-linear narratives, brought together by the people of the city as they pass through the public space.

art.tfl.gov.uk Lace in Place is another new temporary public art installation, this time in Bedford, produced by artist Arabel Rosillo de Blas. It has been commissioned by Bedford Creative Arts, a contemporary visual arts organisation that seeks to question and explore genuine artistic collaboration and what it means to commission with communities. It works with “specialist, experienced artists who are exploring new possibilities of collaborative arts practice”. Commissions are realised through collaboration with community partners, making art in everyday places, exploring the links between art and social, economic or cultural issues.

Lace in Place sees an unoccupied Grade II listed building in Bedford’s town centre transformed by large-scale, hand-made lace. A diverse range of

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Bedford’s local communities were actively involved in the commission.

Rosillo de Blas worked closely with local group the Aragon Lacemakers, learning the art of lace-making and designing patterns for the installation.

She also brought together a dedicated team of local people who, through a series of public events and workshops, discovered the joys of lace-making.

They then played a crucial role, along with The Aragon Lacemakers, in helping Rosillo de Blas make the unique fabric for Lace in Place.

The installation is a celebration of the rich history of lace-making in Bedfordshire, which is thought to date back to Catherine of Aragon, who was imprisoned by Henry VIII in Ampthill tower near Bedford. Each stitch derives from traditional Bedfordshire Lace, the delicate motifs recalling powerful stories of women and war, beauty and poverty that are part of the region’s cultural heritage. Once a booming trade but now the preserve of a dedicated few, de Blas’ work presents lace as never seen before, challenging our perceptions of this genteel craft.

www.bedfordcreativearts.org.uk Also using stitch to explore textures of site, Alice Fox is Artist in Residence for 2012 at Spurn National Nature Reserve in East Yorkshire. Fox is working on a new body of work inspired by this unique and fragile landscape, which will be exhibited in an unusual on-site exhibition in Spurn’s old lighthouse during the weekend of 21-23 September.

Fox recently graduated with a first class degree in Contemporary Surface Design and Textiles. She grew up just over the waters of the Humber in Grimsby and had a previous career in nature conservation. This residency is her first public project as a solo artist and presents an opportunity to take her work to new audiences, both during her time at Spurn and through the exhibition tour, which runs from October through into 2013. Fox’s residency is in partnership with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and is supported by the National Lottery, through Arts Council England and by EYevents.

Over a six-month period Alice will be recording her experience of Spurn, a remote and ever changing spit of land that protrudes into the mouth of the

Beyond the gallery | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

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1 Arabel Rosillo de Blas, Lace in Place. Photo: Richard Davies.

2 Edward Ward, Barnsley boxer Matt Moran. See: The Great Boxing Booth Revival.

3 Mathew Trivett, Megumi Matsubara, Vahakn Matossian and Ng Chor Guan, Floating Radio Lost in Bristol. See: Pervasive Media Studio 4 Crabman, Signpost & Bell Mis-Guided walking tours. See: b side Multimedia Festival 5 Alice Fox, stitched prints, 2012.

6 Spurn lighthouse. Photo: Alice Fox

Humber estuary on the coast of East Yorkshire. Wide horizons, windswept beaches, an abundance of migrating birds and other wildlife, fascinating patterns in mud and sand as the tide constantly ebbs and flows: these are all elements that make Spurn the special place that it is. Fox will be using the old lighthouse as an on-site studio base and this heritage building will form the location for the exhibition weekend. Visitors will be encouraged to walk the 3.5 mile peninsular to take in the exhibition as part of their experience of Spurn.

Alice Fox’s work combines the textural qualities of textile and printmaking processes, including rust prints, naturally sourced mark making, embossing and collagraph printmaking. She builds up layers of print and stitch to make contemplative works – often incorporating found objects – that form an embodiment of a given location. “I have an intense interest in the natural world and in the detail of organic things. I am fascinated by the interplay of order and randomness that is found where man meets nature.

Spurn provides so many possibilities for developing my work and I’m very excited about being able to focus on this special location. “

spurnpointartistinresidence.blogspot.co.uk www.facebook.com/SpurnPointArtistInResidence2012 Reflective Histories is a partnership project between Edinburgh Printmakers and Traquair House in the Scottish Borders town of Innerleithan. The project aims to produce high quality, site-specific installations in response to the historic artefacts and architectures of Traquair House and Gardens.

Artists Calum Colvin, David Faithfull, Duncan Robertson, Helen Douglas, Lesley Logue, Nicola Murray and Rachel Maclean have been invited to interpret the cultural significance of the heritage site – reflecting existing objects, furniture, record archives, interior spaces and exterior landscapes in new works to create dialogues of artistic practice.

Traquair House serves as a unique piece of living history. Dating back to 1107 it has been host to the Kings and Queens of Scotland, been occupied by invading English troops, a place of refuge by Catholic priests in hiding during the Reformation, witness to the plotting of the Jacobite Rising and home or host to many of Scotland's most public figures for hundreds of years.

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As well as numerous events, workshops and talks, installations at Traquair will envision: knights on a chess board as unicorns traced with oak leaves; tapestries embellished with Jacobite flora; new embroideries in the forms of loops, panels or cushions next to existing historical pieces; a digitally reconstructed shoe belonging to Mary Queen of Scots; and a video work exploring the heraldic symbols of the Lion and the Unicorn.

Edinburgh Printmakers is a leading centre of excellence for contemporary fine art printmaking, providing open access studio facilities across a range of printmaking processes. The centre curates a year-round exhibitions programme and delivers an extensive education programme for professional, semi-professional and community users.

www.traquair.co.uk www.edinburgh-printmakers.co.uk This summer b-side Multimedia Festival returns to Weymouth and Portland with a rich programme of contemporary art intended to delight and provoke in equal measure. Following an open call for proposals, twenty-eight artists have been commissioned to make new site-responsive works that span live art, sound, installation, text and film.

Artists from across the globe have responded to this year’s festival theme of ‘margins, boundaries, portals and departure points’ and the 2012 event promises a true international flavour showcasing the best of the South West’s creative talent alongside artists from America, Europe and China.

Visitors can look forward to innovative work sited in pubs, churches, alleyways, swimming pools, car parks and castles; immersive panoramic films in the 360º ICCI360 Arena; Steve McPherson's interactive, humanpowered sound symphony; Kid Carpet’s absurd Language Lab comedy lecture inspired by the Olympian tale of Poseidon; Annie Lovejoy and Belle Benfield’s all women sea shanty performed by a roaming choir; and Crabman, Signpost & Bell’s Mis-Guided walking tours, exploring missing houses, invisible rays and strange fish.

Frances Scott has been commissioned to produce The Miracle Methods Series, a constellation of micro ‘episodes’ in film and text for broadcast on bus stops and travel information signs across Portland and Weymouth. The works explore histories of card-sharping and the act of marking cards to

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | Beyond the gallery

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cheat, drawing on imagery and sounds relating to hypnosis, gaming and the shipping forecast. She says: “the work has moved through a number of shifts since my original proposal. These changes have been necessary responses to the evolving context of the site – a series of council-operated plasma screens in bus-stops, and locations around Weymouth including shops, colleges, and waiting rooms. Though at times I’ve wondered how to make it happen without completely rewriting the idea, it seems these unanticipated events have somehow managed to bring the work closer to its genesis, maybe even given it a stranger, and hopefully better form.”

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Show, Corbridge, on 4 June. Inspired by the historic boxing booths that travelled the British fairgrounds during the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this ‘old attraction with a contemporary twist’ is the result of a collaboration between Guardian sports writer Harry Pearson and curator Judith King.

www.b-side.org.uk

The Boxing Booth façade has been commissioned from London-based performance artist Mel Brimfield. Actor Dennis Jobling stands at the entrance as Young Buster the boxer, enticing his audience into the booth to marvel at sporting and theatrical displays – all enacted within the boxing ring and adjudicated by satin-gowned watchers at each corner.

The VAMOS! Festival, celebrating Spanish and Portuguese speaking cultures in NewcastleGateshead, returns for its 7th edition this month.

Combining cuisine, art, film, theatre, dance, music, literature, fashion, sport and education, the six-week celebration includes events across North East England, in Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, Middlesbrough, North Tyneside and extends for the first time this year to County Durham.

The performance programme changes at each fair or f te. Newly commissioned works include: a loud sung and shouted boxing bout exchange written by artist Laura Eldret; a snatch of operatic argument by Rocket Opera; A Thing of Wonder by artist-magician Stuart Nolan; a short, five minute dance by Martin Hylton Dance (supported by Phoenix Dance); and energetic, physical exchanges by young fencers, wrestlers, parkour traceurs, Bollywood dancers and beat boxers.

The 2012 programme features the UK premiere of a photographic exhibition about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera; arts commissions by Latin American artists as part of the Cultural Olympiad celebrations; UK premieres of Brazilian and Peruvian films; performances by leading Latin DJs and musicians; a large scale Tyne Carnival procession with the general public in the centre of Newcastle; Peña Flamenca performances; plus workshops, talks, language cafés and more.

The first of the three Cultural Olympiad commissions, delivered with curator Pablo León de la Barra, is by Venezuelan artist Jaime Gili, whose paintings combine the austerity of geometric design with the vibrancy of painterly gesture. Gili’s new works respond to the architecture of the newly-restored Tynemouth Station, which celebrates its 130th anniversary this year.

The second commission will be presented at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) from 23 June – 6 July. Ximena Garrido-Lecca’s new video documents the annual Toro Pukllay festival in the highland villages of Peru, and features an iconic power struggle between a condor and a bull. The work combines documentation and symbolism to explore the centuries of struggle between the indigenous peoples of Peru and colonial Western power.

For the third VAMOS! commission, and in partnership with BRASS: Durham International Festival, American artist, musician and composer Arto Lindsay will stage a carnival riverboat procession along the River Wear in Durham.

Entitled Keep Your Hat On in homage to maverick artist Flávio de Carvalho who studied at Durham University in the 1920s, the work is inspired by de Carvalho's maverick spirit. Carvalho is known for, among other provocations, refusing to uncover his head during a religious procession.

www.vamosfestival.com Also part of the Cultural Olympiad celebrations this summer, The Great Boxing Booth Revival will be appearing at agricultural shows and fairs throughout the North East and Cumbria. Driven by artist Carl von Weiler, the customised horse wagon will begin its tour at Northumberland County

The Great Boxing Booth Revival is an Arts&Heritage project for the Cultural Olympiad, and has been awarded the Inspire mark for exceptional projects.

www.facebook.com/ArtsHeritage www.artsandheritage.org.uk Based in the heart of Bristol, the Pervasive Media Studio brings together creators from diverse backgrounds to research and produce new experiences. In February, the British Council and Watershed brought together twelve artists and designers from across East Asia and the UK for a five-day creative Sprint around the theme of The Playable City.

Drawn from across cultures and disciplines, participants from the UK were installation artist Tine Bech, designer Julian Sykes, sound artist Kathy Hinde, visual artist Mathew Trivett and product designer Vahakn Matossian. International guests included Australian theatre makers Leticia Cáceres and Angela Betzien of RealTV, Japanese product designer/sound artist Yuri Suzuki, also from Japan visual artist Megumi Matsubara, Korean duo Bang & Lee, and Malaysian composer Ng Chor Guan.

Participants worked together to experiment and prototype playful interventions that used creative technologies to rethink public space.

Through a process of discussion, sharing, making and testing, three new projects were enabled – Bike Tag, Floating Radio Lost in Bristol and Heartlands – to be collaboratively conceived and developed. Watershed and the British Council are working to continue support of these projects, as well as developing further Playable City initiatives with East Asia and Brazil.

Watershed are currently offering two artists' residencies to research new projects at the Pervasive Media Studio. Residencies are open to UK-based artists from varied disciplines who are looking for the time and space to research innovative ideas, develop experimental works and make new connections. The residencies will support early stage projects that require critical and technical investigation and discussion.

www.watershed.co.uk/ished

MA FOcus | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

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Postgraduate focus Here, we profile a selection of courses offering postgraduate level study for artists seeking to develop their practice further within creative, supportive and critically challenging environments.

Norwich University College of the Arts Norwich University College of the Arts (NUCA) is one of the great British art schools, with a history of specialist arts, design and media education dating back to 1845. The hallmark of NUCA’s postgraduate education is the emphasis on practice-based work and the ambitions of each individual artist, design or maker. Contextual debate, multi-disciplinary collaborations and an awareness of contemporary practice encourages students to question and push the boundaries of their own work.

Earlier in the year students on the pioneering MA Curation Course selected, planned and installed the ‘Magic Theatre’ exhibition in the Gallery at NUCA – a showcase of new work by illustrators including Quentin Blake.

Forthcoming collaborations currently under discussion include working with the V&A and the Arts Council Collection. An exhibition of student curated work from the distinguished NUCA collection will be on view in the Gallery at NUCA from 20 August – 1 September 2012.

The MA Fine Art programme encourages students to engage with the contemporary art scene and to consider to focus on professional development.

Each year students participate in the Fine Art symposium ‘DIALOGUES’ which brings together students, artists, curators and academics from across the UK for an electric exchange of ideas and new work. Both MA Fine Art and MA Curation have very close links with regional organisations with international status such as the Wysing Arts Centre, firstsite and Outpost gallery. The University College also has links with national venues such as Tate Liverpool, the Whitechapel and MAC in Birmingham.

NUCA is currently recruiting for six MA courses for September 2012 start including: MA Communication Design, MA Curation, MA Fashion, MA Fine Art, MA Moving Image and Sound and MA Textile Design. From 31 August – 4 September 2012 the work of graduating MA Fine Art and MA Curation students will be on public exhibition as part of the MA Degree Shows.

www.nuca.ac.uk Staffordshire University With innovation and creativity at its heart, the Faculty of Arts, Media and Design at Staffordshire University offers a wide range of postgraduate study opportunities. It is from this ethos and focus that the MA Creative Futures was born. Driven by a desire to help creative practitioners develop their creative, technical and business skills, this postgraduate level award is designed to encourage and enable students’ professional engagement with the creative and cultural industries regionally, nationally and internationally.

Students are supported in their individual development of innovative and new opportunities for employment and creative practice. Building professional industry relationships and networking is a strong focus of the course; visiting professionals provide case studies and insight into the creative industries, all students benefit from the support of an individually selected specialist industry mentor. This is all delivered within an environment that encourages the development of academic, business and specialist creative skills, ensuring that students are equipped to flourish as creative entrepreneurs and freelance practitioners.

Installation by Richard Ward. 2008 MA Fine Art: Contemporary Practice show, Falmouth College of Arts.

University College Falmouth University College Falmouth’s MFA is a new qualification starting in October 2012 that builds upon its successful MA degree offerings and enables experienced practitioners in any of the creative arts to express their individuality and refine their approach to their work through postgraduate study.

MFA students will engage in high-level critical dialogue with their supervisor, who will be drawn from Falmouth’s talented and experienced academic faculty. Together it will help shape student’s artistic identity and sharpen the quality of their output, so that at the end of the MFA, graduates can become even more successful in their chosen career.

University College Falmouth covers the whole spectrum of the creative arts – broadly speaking: art, design, media, performance and writing. Some students will want to specialise in a particular discipline, others will be seeking to work across boundaries and develop creative partnerships with other practitioners.

University College Falmouth is looking for people who are driven, highly motivated and whether based on site at Falmouth or in their own creative space, students will be expected to work on their own initiative. The taught MA programme includes: MA Art & Environment; MA Curatorial Practice; MA Fine Art: Contemporary Practice; and MA Illustration: Authorial Practice.

www.falmouth.ac.uk University of Sunderland Although Sunderland is a modern, new university and leader in widening participation, Fine Art has been studied at the university there since 1860 - this long tradition gives today’s programme, on a purpose built site, a rich inheritance and connection to the proud history of art education in the UK. The University of Sunderland’s Faculty of Arts, Design and Media is part of the arts infrastructure of the North East region that includes Baltic, MIMA, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art and Workplace Gallery.

There are three main reasons why artists choose to undertake MA Fine Art at the University of Sunderland: to develop their personal practice – individual student's concerns and projects are at the of centre the programme; to extend their professional experience and expertise through the range of live projects that the programme offers and to engage or re-engage in debate about contemporary art and design.

In addition to the continued development and testing of student’s own work, a unique feature of the MA Fine Art programme at the University of Sunderland is the focus on a range of issues relating to professional practice. Professionals including curators, artists, gallery managers and arts entrepreneurs give talks and practical workshops on a range of topics from fundraising to self-presentation. As part of their ongoing studio work students devise and complete an individual professional practice project that reflects their future career aspirations.

Students are able to specialise in a range of specialist areas and the focus is on providing creative choice. Students can choose from creative disciplines including: MA Design, MA Ceramic Design, MA Graphic Design, MA Product Design, MA Surface Pattern, MA Textile Design, MA 3D Design, MA Advertising and Brand Management, MA Illustration, MA Animation, MA VFX , MA Photography, MA Contemporary Art Practice, Writing, MA Heritage and Culture and Applied Theatre.

From 16 -21 July 2012, the work of the MA Fine Art Students will be shown in an exhibition entitled ‘One to the Power of Ten’, which will mark the closure of Ashburne House. Fine Art and Performing Arts will now be housed in the historic Priestman Building in Sunderland city centre as part of a £10m renovation programme across the three buildings, bringing new opportunities around provision and practice in fine art, art and design foundation, glass and ceramics, photography and performing arts. The new layout will include new studios and a new art gallery. The distinctive St Mary's Building on the city centre campus will accommodate new photography studios.

www.staffs.ac.uk/amd

www.sunderland.ac.uk

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | artist-led

Artist-led Highlighting a-n’s long-running interests and the wealth of historical knowledge held in our archive.

That the artist-led is at the heart of a-n has always been a given. Here we hear from Sovay Berriman on Alias, a-n’s report on NAN’s peer-reviewed bursaries and looking further back we see how four artist-run spaces responded to a new policy document in 1998.

1 Artists’ Book & Zine Fair 2011, Spike Island. Photo: Carl Newland. Courtesy: Spike Island

Sustaining and building connections Alias which began in 1999 has been successfully supporting and encouraging artist-led initiatives across the South West of England ever since. Sovay Berriman explains.

The ambitions of Alias – ‘by artists for artists’ has enabled independents with experience of self-organisation to pass on knowledge and expertise and get paid for it with those accessing the advice getting it for free. This open attitude towards sharing skills and knowledge while appreciating its value remains at the heart of the organisation. It can be the smallest exchange that makes the greatest difference.

Fluidity is key to the activity: the South West is large and rural, urban centres widely dispersed and transport between them expensive and irregular. Whilst high-speed internet connections make sustaining and building new connections easier nowadays, many rurally-based practitioners still feel isolated, practically and critically. Alias reaches across the region, connecting networks and providing space for group working and sharing of ideas, contacts and opportunities..

Alias maintain a positive and determined attitude toward fostering collaboration and developing a community that is defined by interlacing networks. The emphasis on growing networks is most clearly visible in development of Alias Hubs – discursive events and meeting points delivered in partnership with organisations and artists’ groups. Visual Arts South West (formally Turning Point South West) supports the Hubs events in locations ranging from Penzance to Swindon and Cheltenham to Plymouth.

2 Alias/Reveal Hub, Brewhouse, Taunton, 2012. Photo: Tim Martin

As Bristol-based Hand in Glove commented: “…Taking part in an Alias Hub event has opened my eyes to the practice of other artist led groups and initiatives in the South West….” The emphasis is on reflecting the inventive and resourceful character of artist-led activity and the support structures artists themselves put in place. Hubs are characterised by their simplicity, able to pop-up where needed and be delivered swiftly and at low cost. To date they’ve been hosted as part of existing programmes or networks, such as with Reveal Somerset partnership and with launch of new initiatives such as Artsite’s The Artists’ Café in Swindon. In a more exploratory manner, they’ve responded to requests from individuals wishing to meet up with other creative producers locally. Importantly, as OSR Projects, West Coker comments: “This platform for meeting creative practitioners has strengthened regional networks and undoubtedly made the region a better place for art and artists.”

Alias Hubs are delivered alongside an advisory service that offers artist-led initiatives bespoke support ranging from fundraising to organisational structures; and seminars such as the Artists’ Book & Zine Fair at Spike Island, produced in partnership with others and providing space for critical dialogue and exchange.

Sovay Berriman is an artist and Alias consultant www.sovayberriman.co.uk www.aliasarts.org www.revealsomerset.org www.spikeisland.org.uk/spike-associates www.artsite.ltd.uk www.handinglovebristol.blogspot.co.uk www.osrprojects.wordpress.com www.tpsw.squarespace.com

artist-led | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

3 Blue Monkey Network. Artists talk about the work at the end of the presentations as artist Amanda Champness' slide show plays through in the background. Photo: Judith Alder.

Sustaining artist-led practices In 2011, a pilot programme tested the impact of peer-reviewed bursaries to support the long-term sustainability of artists’ groups and artist-led networks.

NAN Futurific! bursaries offered new ways for artists to think about networking by looking at what creative approaches could be used to ensure the future of artist-led initiatives and how economic, environmental and social changes affect the way artists work together.

Evaluating the outcomes of bursaries of up to £900 each awarded to Blue Monkey (Eastbourne), Coachwerks (Brighton), Freeform (Sheffield) and Sam West (Bristol), Sonya Dyer commented: “Although ‘sustainability’ is increasingly used to describe ways in which culture should be organised and funded, artists are not always part of this important dialogue. The ethos of the NAN Futurific! bursary of up to £900 in value was that artists should be at the forefront of this debate, having access to the research and development processes that are central to long-term planning for economic, environmental and social future.”

Each project set out its own aims and objectives for the bursary, the only condition for funding being to keep a blog on Artists’ talking, so that all artists could easily learn from bursary research and impact. Blue Monkey used the bursary to further plans for a membership body based around the Towner Gallery and especially for artists in the area. Judith Alder commented: “To be able to have a-n and AIR as a friend is an endorsement that people notice, and maybe take you more seriously. (Our) partnership with Towner also adds gravitas.”

A community studio project Coachwerks has been running for over three years. The project was attracted to Futurific! due to the emphasis on sustainability. As a volunteer-run organisation, the aim was to fund the development of a previously empty part of the site into an artists’ residency space. This extra income could “help keep the project going, and provide us with the opportunity to meet new people, with new ideas.”

The bursary also broadened their network: “The more open avenues you go down, the more sustainable you can be.”

For the Freeform group of ceramic practitioners at Sheffield’s Yorkshire Artspace Studios the issue of sustainability was completely the driving force in their minds. The core group met in an ad hoc fashion, and they “wanted to develop their idea more, so that we would have a stake in (our)

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4 Blue Monkey Network. Membership forms arrive as artists join the new Network. Photo: Judith Alder.

network; we needed to grab hold of the opportunities.” They appreciated the flexibility the award offered as although they had planned to build an open access, smokeless, wood fired kiln and connect up with a group of ceramic artists in Wales they ended up making connections with emerging artists from Hungary making a visit to the UK in 2012. The artists said getting a bursary was “quite an honour – wow they [the assessing artists] really feel that our project is good!”. The “legacy of affirmation” was important.

The Sam West Collective at Spike Island initially set up a no-frills residency programme (supported by free accommodation offered by another artist), aiming to welcome artists into the Bristol scene. This network within a network (which in turn connected to other networks) developed an interest in utilising a ‘like-for-like gift economy’ to support grass roots, artist-led national / international residencies and studio swaps. The collective initially applied to visit Helsinki to connect with a previous residency participant but the bursary’s flexible approach enabled them to visit contacts in Estonia.

Sam West wanted to research how to grow their collective in light of cuts to public funding of the arts; to compare and contrast the respective artist-led art scenes and to develop a framework for international activity independent of official funding bodies. “Conditions attached to funding can affect the work made. This bursary gave us freedom to develop our project without restrictions.”

Futurific! was part of the NAN initiative that ran 2004-2011 and set out to promote the aspirations of artists and development of practice through peer dialogue and exchange. Supported by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and ERDF, small-scale peer reviewed bursaries were awarded in support of artists’ collective development. www.a-n.co.uk/nan Read the blog reports Blue Monkey www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/1102904 Coachwerks www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/1168787 Freeform www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/1191216 Sam West www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/1186858

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | artist-led

Artist-run response Four artist-run organisations respond to the recent Arts Council of England policy document, Visual Arts A policy for the Arts Funding System in England.

Cable St. Studios + Gallery, London Criticisms first: the bias of the document appears to be in favour of new media/new technology art which is not representative of current art practice. It is my experience through open submissions at Cable Street Gallery and the make-up of artists at Cable Street Studios that between 60-75% of artists are painters – an artform often overlooked today by the media and funding bodies.

Also, it would be novel to have ‘Cultural Diversity’ seen as part of the wider picture instead of the subset/afterthought it appears to be in this draft form of the document.

On a positive note, that artists should be able to earn a living wage from their art is a good point that can not be emphasized too greatly. It’s also heartening to see the achievements of artist-run events and spaces acknowledged. Given that artist-run spaces are now a vital and integral part of the wider art world, it is essential that funding is provided to ensure that these spaces and organisations can continue to function and hopefully grow.

Alana Jelinek City Racing, London Recognition for the need for flagship galleries funded by the arts councils and regional arts boards does exist within artists organisations. Artists are recognised in many ways within the new ACE policy paper with artist-run spaces being offered ‘support where there is no provision and strong artistic vision and management is in place’. Further detailed commitment in the policy document is essential to show a more precise recognition of artists organisations who consistently instigate and create some of the most interesting visual arts projects. They are able to respond immediately to local and international situations often in ingenious ways. After art school they are the natural link in a chain, an entry into the world of the arts. Their influence on the larger contemporary galleries where programmes are often booked years in advance is clear. Many one-person shows by currently well-known artists occurred first at artists-run galleries. Without these, much time may go by before those artists have the opportunity to test their work seriously.

What seems to be missing is the sure commitment in revenue and projectfunding terms to those artists’ organisations on anything like the same scale as the flagship galleries. That is not to say that artists’ organisations want the same treatment. They generally want less money working quite simply in materially modest ways. They do not wish to get involved in the many subsidiary events such as specifically organized educational workshops best suited to larger institutions with specialized staff, but they are themselves very ambitious in terms of their goals. There has been an enormous increase in their number over the past five years and the demand on them from artists is constant and increasing. What they need and deserve is solid funding for their committees, building/base and for the projects that they organise. They do not wish to enlarge in size but they need to increase in number.

They must be presented as invaluable and in genuine need.

Matt Hale Cubitt Gallery, London Cubitt welcomes the report and was very pleased to have the opportunity to respond. We feel very strongly that the visual arts, although much trumpeted as part of the ‘renaissance of Britain’, is under-funded in comparison with other artforms, undervalued educationally, and misunderstood in terms of artists’ range of practice outside the traditional artforms and their role in bringing new technology into visual culture.

Organisations like Cubitt, have become a recognized training ground for administrators and curators, as well as having an impact on the development of artists as entrepreneurial professionals. They are also sustainable, and do not require large injections of capital funding (like the performing arts for example). Despite this, spaces like Cubitt often prove to be popular venues for music, live art events and film and video screenings in addition to exhibitions and talks. In short, these small organisations are consistently achieving high-quality exhibitions and events with the minimum of government funding, and in some cases are also providing artists with low-cost studio space.

In the last couple of years artist-run spaces have begun to establish networks, both internationally and nationally. Cubitt and several other

spaces have considered the possibility of some kind of open forum for artist-run spaces specifically to consider policy and funding issues. There seems to be a consensus that the real need for change is not in the level of funding, ie we don’t all want more money, and some of us are managing very well on what we have, but in allocation of money.

From our perspective as an artist-run space, our overall impression of the draft policy is that far greater emphasis on grassroots funding would be beneficial.

The subsidy of studio space and the encouragement of partnerships with local authorities, without the requirement for unrealistic levels of public accountability and educational provision, would be very effective.

Emma Kay Waygood Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne While the report contains much positive talk regarding building a visual arts economy, there is the usual lack of specifics as to how some of this might be achieved.

The report talks of artists contributing to the process of raising their own levels of professionalism, and therefore income levels. As an artist myself I know that from a comparatively modest programme budget, Waygood provides real financial support – through supporting Exhibition Payment Right, fundraising for production costs of work, covering travel and accommodation costs of visiting artists – of a higher level than many better funded, more ‘mainstream’ venues.

The contribution to ‘collaboration’ and ‘networking’ made by artist-led spaces is cited many times throughout the report, but all too often I feel such spaces are perceived by some higher up in the arts sector as ‘bottom-rung-on-the-ladder’ places for artists to show, before moving on to more established – more ‘professional’ – venues. Having met a large number of artists who also run galleries or organize shows, there is an almost unanimous feeling that we want to set our own agendas, showing established artists alongside new or local ones, thus rejecting such a linear and hierarchical viewpoint. This stems not from a knee-jerk desire to be ‘alternative’ – a description I reject anyway – but from a genuine desire to establish a truly more equitable model of practice.

Waygood has always advocated such principles and asked that they be respected when asking for either public funding or private sponsorship, the only ‘strings’ attached being that we are then obliged to deliver what we have promised. In other words, through such a process of mutual respect I believe artist-led spaces already provide not a blueprint, but a very real working example that other organisations might adopt in their dealings with artists.

Paul Stone Archive article from a-n Magazine, July 1998.

City Racing closed later in 1998. In 2001 the Institute of Contemporary Arts presented a retrospective of work exhibited at City Racing, entitled ‘City Racing 1988-98: a Partial Account’.

Cubitt continues to thrive as an independent organisation controlled by its members and is currently based at 8 Angel Mews in Islington. cubittartists.org.uk Waygood continued until 2010 when Arts Council England withdrew its revenue support. A group of original studio holders from Waygood continue to practice at the recently rebranded Studios at Baltic39. www.balticmill.com/39/studios www.waygood.org

REWARDS AND CHALLENGES | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

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Rewards and challenges Artist S Mark Gubb talks to Magazine Coordinator Chris Brown as he prepares the last ever issue of a-n Magazine.

1 Chris Brown in g39’s new premises. Photo: Nic Finch.

2 S Mark Gubb, Free For All Forever, temporary artwork commissioned by Chapter, Cardiff, to coincide with Gubb’s solo exhibition ‘How Should I Live? (Maybe That’s Not The Question)’ 1 October - 7 November 2010. The commission was in situ until 31 March 2011.

1

2

So Chris, a-n Magazine in its printed form is coming to a close. You’ve been a-n Magazine Coordinator for around five years. Before that you were Reviews editor, a member of the NAN advisory group and were later part of AIR’s development. How did this relationship come about and evolve through these roles?

I met Susan Jones (a-n Director) at an Alias1 event (Artist Led Initiatives Advisory Service) in 2002; a residential event in a remote spot at Land’s End attended by representatives of artist-led projects from around the UK. Artist-organisers Louise Short and Tessa Fitzjohn had curated a programme of presentations, workshops, coastal walks, cooking and pub conversations.

Connections I made there proved to be long-standing and numerous, in a way that no event has quite been since. Su gave me my first glimpse into the mechanics and values of a-n over an artist-led stewpot offering. I agreed to write an article for the magazine2, responding to the event within an investigation into artist-led activity around the UK. It was the beginning of an ongoing relationship that has brought me to my current role. There is minimal hierarchy within a-n as an organisation, and although I now hold a key role, I felt as much a part of the organisation back in 2002 as I do now.

in a rhizomatic way. For artists this also brings about new partnerships and ways of working that rely less on your geographical location. Digital formats and technologies give us immense power to cross-reference and corroborate or contradict data, as well as the ability to self-publish.

So, what have been the best, and worst, parts of these various jobs?

There is one aspect of this journalistic role that represents the greatest reward and the biggest challenge. Being on the receiving end of so much information about current affairs and activities has given me an incredibly comprehensive overview of the UK art-scene. But to be able to give everything equal consideration means that you develop the journalist’s equivalent of the fifteen-seconds-in-front-of-a-painting syndrome. It’s almost like an impatience with information; it takes discipline to slow down, spend time with a text and take on-board the way it is interpreting the experience of an artwork.

Five years is a significant period of time. You must have noticed some considerable changes on a local, national and global scale?

Undoubtedly, the two contexts that have had the biggest impact to artists’ working practices are the painfully harsh and rapid reduction in public subsidy for the arts, and the advent of social media. Interestingly, there has been a sort of ‘do-or-die’ approach to each of these phenomena – artists have rallied together in concerted efforts to ensure funding cuts are not taken lightly; others have embraced the new social media platforms to construct entirely new ways of working that radicalises the gallery/curator/ artist/audience relationship and adds an entirely new level of sophistication to the DIY ethic I wrote about back in 2002.

It is sobering to take a step back and reflect on the enormity of the changes we’re witnessing as a result of the digital age. My role in a-n is a case in point. I, and many other a-n people work remotely, based around the country acting as regional correspondents, decentralising the organisation

Are there trends or patterns you see emerging that will be important in the near future?

I can see an emergence of new behaviours amongst art students. There are more and more instances of students seeking peripatetic education and experiences outside educational institutions. In the past I have been dismayed at students’ blithe ignorance of the art-scene beyond the college doorstep. Now, for instance, through Degrees unedited, undergraduates can access a two-way portal that gives them a presence beyond the course and ability to strike up working relationships prior to graduating.

What are some of your favourite memories of your time in this role?

I have had so many memorable exchanges, particularly ‘curating’ cover artists and the Big picture, and also with the Collaborative relationships features. When developing a relationship with the artist prior to their feature, I am offered an insight to their practice that I feel privileged to have, particularly when the artist’s career path develops significantly afterwards.

You wear another very significant ‘hat’, as Director of g39 Gallery in Cardiff. How have these two roles worked alongside each other?

I mentioned earlier that my work for a-n has given me an overview of parallel activity in England; that has been invaluable. As well as that, a-n and g39 share similar values in supporting artists, albeit through different means. Nevertheless, the roles have dovetailed very neatly – which is fortunate, otherwise my head would have undoubtedly melted a long time ago! g39’s three-storey townhouse gallery was loved by everyone but it was problematic. Our recent move to a new factory-sized premises addresses many of the issues we faced. Financially, it will be challenging, but the opportunities that we now have are so exciting. It’s not unlike having a role in an entirely new organisation.

Do you have any final words or thoughts for the a-n readership at this important moment in both yours and a-n’s life?

Simple message: it’s business as usual.

S Mark Gubb is an artist based in Cardiff.

1 For more on Alias see Sustaining and building connections page 18.

2 When I was going to St Ives, a-n Magazine June 2002 www.a-n.co.uk/publications/

article/61279/73720

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | CELEBRATING A-N'S ACHIEVEMENTS

Celebrating a-n’s achievements We’re proud of what a-n Magazine has achieved over its thirty-two years. On the occasion of the last print edition we invited many of our collaborators and contributors to help us celebrate and mark this moment by giving us a ‘few words’ – a short testimonial of what a-n means to them. Here, they reflect on our significant role for artists and on the value of a-n Magazine, publications or initiatives.

artist this makes me feel less isolated and confident that I can find answers, or information, I can trust. As an educator working in the visual arts, a-n has provided a go-to location for proactive students ready to launch themselves into the industry. It is difficult enough surviving as an artist – so, as we double dip, and watch funding and support evaporate, we really need someone to help us with timely advice and critical analysis.

The ‘warming’ will continue.

Andrew Pepper Artist and lecturer in fine art www.apepper.com www.WeLikeArtist.com

Rosalind Davis, Rebuild, oil and mixed media on cotton, (from the After the Storm series) 90x60cm, 2011.

“a-n Magazine made life for artists far richer in many ways. The founders, should be immensely proud of the impact that the magazine has made on artists’ careers and on the visual arts landscape in the UK and internationally. There are far too many examples of high quality reviews, powerful critical writing, essential advice, case studies and resources to mention here. Suffice to say that I’m incredibly relieved that the services, interventions and high level advocacy on behalf of all artists will continue in the new formats. Congratulations on the amazing achievements of the magazine to all the team at a-n.”

Tim Eastop “a-n has been one of the most passionate and sustained advocates for visual artists for over thirty years. At a time when artists’ earnings are more precarious than ever, we need to recognise and value the vital contribution that artists make to our culture, society and economy. a-n has played a significant role in doing just that throughout its history and continues to be a champion for thousands of visual artists in the UK.”

Gilane Tawadros Chief Executive, DACS www.dacs.org.uk “a-n is a fabulous network, resource, advocate and support. Whilst I will miss the magazine, I wholly support the bold shift in approach. a-n is pioneering, forward thinking and embraces change with the fearless, open minded attitude, we all need to embrace. I look forward to the new developments and I know that a-n will continue to connect, inspire, teach, consider and share. Thank you for all that you have done for artists and the art community already and thank you for all you intend to do.”

“When I was a visual arts rookie, a-n Magazine was part of my essential toolkit and over the years I have watched the organisation and magazine grow into an essential resource and support organisation for artists in the UK. Providing networking, information sharing, research, debate and work opportunities, a-n continually challenged the support structure for artists, pushed forward the debate, and was always trying to improve conditions and current practice. The magazine continued to grow from strength to strength and I always looked forward it dropping onto the mat every month!

But times move on and so does a-n as this new response to the needs and working practices of its sector.

Maggie Bolt Director at Maggie Bolt Associates www.maggieboltassociates.com “I still own the first twenty-five years of the magazine, and remember the excellent work done by a-n providing vital information when no one else performed that crucial service. I strongly recommended it to successive generations of students.”

Richard Cox Artist and Director, Howard Gardens Gallery, Cardiff School of Art and Design www.richard-cox.co.uk “a-n has been a credible voice, a supportive nurturer and a passionate champion of UK visual artists for three decades. The practice and circumstances of artists have changed enormously during that period and it is hugely to a-n’s credit that it has managed to stay relevant and connected to each generation of artists that it serves.”

Paul Glinkowski Arts Council England Head Office www.artscouncil.org.uk “Instead of mourning the much-loved and used magazine, there’s only excitement at what may come in the future – the dedicated ingenuity of the a-n team knows no bounds. I first came across a-n many years ago now – it has since become a bible and the best source of information when working with visual artists. I always recommend it to artists and regret that other art forms have nothing to match it.”

Jude Thomas Learning Manager, CCE - Creativity, Culture and Education www.creativitycultureeducation.org

Anamaria Wills CidaCo, The Creativity and Innovation Company www.cida.org

“There is something ‘warming’ about knowing that people respect what you do and want to help you do it. a-n Magazine has, over the past thirtytwo years, found a balance here by providing timely advice, critical discussion and detailed information without the patronising attitude. As an

“I recall when a Visual Arts Grants Officer at Arts Council of Great Britain in the 1970s how little information there was for visual artists struggling to make their careers. Fortunately by 1982 when I joined the Crafts Council, Artist Newsletter had come into existence, providing invaluable advice on

CELEBRATING A-N'S ACHIEVEMENTS | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

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Neil Armstrong, Secret performance for a busy office, (from The Specials Project).

Originally featured in a-n Magazine, November 2008, ‘The specials project’.

subjects ranging from what to charge to where to find work opportunities.

So when I came to produce Running A Workshop, the Crafts Council’s guide for craftspeople, a-n provided some of the essential material. Over the years whilst at the Crafts Council, I continued to value the relationship with a-n. The vibrancy of today’s visual arts is, to an extent, due to a-n in professionalising the sector, and enabling artists to feel more confident about all those necessary tasks required in addition to artistic creativity.”

Barclay Price Chief Executive, Arts & Business Scotland www.aandbscotland.org.uk “Receiving a mention for Revolutionary Arts right back when we started, in a town which had no contemporary arts scene, was vitally important.

It was both a stamp of approval and a sign that we weren’t alone – and we probably wouldn’t have kept going without a-n’s continued support and advice in the last twelve years.”

Dan Thompson Revolutionary Arts, artistsandmakers.com, Empty Shops Network www.artistsandmakers.com “When I graduated from the RCA, a-n was a guiding light for me as a new graduate. It was informative, intelligent and gave me a wider, richer view of the art world, one which was not solely concerned with the YBA’s. It was also a fantastic resource for opportunities to exhibit my work. I had always aspired to be in a-n when I graduated and was delighted when that came true on a couple of occasions as an artist and as a writer.”

Rosalind Davis Artist and AIR Council member www.rosalinddavis.co.uk www.ZeitgeistArtsProjects.com “a-n has been an invaluable resource for me over the years. Providing me with information and advice as a new graduate, inviting me to be part of the NAN family for several years, and offering much needed work in the form of writing commissions and opportunities such as ‘Artists and curators talking’. It also took a chance on publishing an a-n Research paper the Boxed In report, critiquing diversity policies in the sector, at a time when most would not enter into the fray. I remain appreciative of this risk-taking, and the faith shown in myself and other artists in being given a platform to speak for – and represent – ourselves.”

Sonya Dyer Artist, arts consultant and writer “Fashionable arty magazines have come and gone over those thirty two years but, over that time, a-n Magazine has been the one I regard as having had the most consistent (and unpretentious) finger on the pulse of art activity in the UK.”

Neil Armstrong Artist www.neilarmstrong.me “a-n is a constant, rich and reliable source of support and information to visual artists and I look forward to many more years of the same, enabling and advocating for individual practitioners.”

Mark Segal

“Before the internet and blogs and social media there was a-n Magazine. It was the platform for conversation, information and advice for all of us working in the visual arts. It broke stories and brokered partnerships, and always championed the artist as a the central force in advancing the visual arts. So it’s with a fond farewell a-n Magazine – you were a good ‘un.”

Andrea Hawkins Director, Buddleia “Through every facet of the publication and its operations, a-n provides a means for artists to contribute to the collective knowledge and resource sharing that comes from being a practicing, working artist. For many years, artists involved in our organisation have talked about the excellent service a-n provides for artists, everything from timely commentaries on news stories to practical professional development information for artists.

I look forward to seeing how a-n evolves in this new phase.”

April Britski Executive Director, CARFAC National, Canada www.carfac.ca “Over the years I’ve seen a-n grow into a dynamic support network for artists, which carries out distinctive research and advocacy. At engage we’re consistently impressed by the a-n team’s energy and enthusiasm, and the high quality of its resources and events. We look forward to many more years of partnership working with a-n.”

Jane Sillis Director of engage, the National Association for Gallery Education www.engage.org “I had the privilege of being involved for a little while in a-n’s early days.

Since then it has become the indispensable source of information, support and encouragement for artists. There is nothing like it half so good. Long may a-n continue.”

Fred Brookes Business advisor, Creative Leicestershire www.creativeleicestershire.org.uk “I’ve been reading a-n since I started working in the visual arts in the early 1990s. It’s informative, ahead of the curve, imparting good advice and giving a strong voice to the sector. a-n has always been a site for debate, and place to find opportunities to work with others, to collaborate and join communities. I wish a-n all the best in its new format, I’m sure it will continue to play a pivotal role in the visual arts.”

Sue Jones Director Whitstable Biennale www.whitstablebiennale.com Read more comments and add your own www.a-n.co.uk/whats_next

Dan Thompson, No. 7, (from the Tamed Books series), 2009-11 .

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | SNAPSHOT

Jack Hutchinson with highlights of what’s on in June around the UK and beyond Back in 2009, Snapshot was my first paid commission as a writer. Over the last four years contributing to this feature has resulted in an array of connections with superb artist-focused organisations. It never ceases to amaze me how resilient we are as a sector. The support offered to smaller organisations who play a pivotal role in the development of artists has been inspiring, although more still needs to be done.

This month’s selection is a mix of resilience, newly established, and a few personal faves. The one thing they all have in common?

They put artists at the centre.

Despite losing over £72,000 in Arts Council England core funding this year, ISIS Arts in Newcastle is continuing its renowned programme of artist residencies and associate events. Bulgarian artist Borjana Ventzislavova begins her residency in June, conducting research for a new video project called Radical Cheerleading which will deal with the current social and political crisis situation of our “so-called developed capitalist society”.

A talk by the artist takes place on 20 June.

1

www.isisarts.org.uk Another organisation flying in the face of ACE funding cuts is PVA Media Lab in Dorset. This superb artist-centred commissioning organis ation has a strong associate artist and residency programme, with Steve McPherson presenting ‘Array’, a sound sculpture and installation, at B-Side Arts and Media Festival 2012 (27 July – 12 August). Also on show are fellow associate artist Ivan Oates’ films informed by time spent on board the Pelican of London. The work aims to encapsulate through an imaginative interpretation, the spirit and wider cultural vision embedded in the fibre of the ship and in its connection to Weymouth Harbour.

2

www.pva.org.uk ‘Bread and Roses’ (Motorcade/FlashParade, 1-3 June) presents art as a potential catalyst for producing social change. Many of the works share a subtle political undercurrent, underlying the desire to see the world differently in order to change it. Heading towards the capital, Transition Gallery presents ‘Malerei; Painting as Object’ (London, from 9 June). Artists include Helen Baker, Phyllida Barlow, Virginia Bodman, and Sean Edwards.

Transition’s director Cathy Lomax will also be discussing the gallery’s activities at ZeitgeistArtsProjects on 14 June as part of their ‘Show and Tell’ programme.

www.motorcadeflashparade.com www.transitiongallery.com www.zeitgeistartsprojects.com The Drawing Room – the only public, non-profit gallery in the UK and Europe dedicated to drawing – has a superb new exhibition. ‘Graphology’ (London, to 30 June) explores a genealogy of automated drawing from a contemporary perspective. The wide spectrum of work on show includes pieces by Fiona Banner, Juliana Borinski and William Anastasi. Another superb drawing show takes place at the Centre for Recent Drawing.

Morgan O’Hara’s ‘Live Transmissions from the English National Ballet’ (London, to 8 June) explores drawing’s historical association with the ephemeral.

www.drawingroom.org.uk www.c4rd.org.uk Fancy a nice relaxing evening discussing the boarders between art and science? Ideas-Matter-Sphere’s latest pub discussion takes place on 19 June at the historic Devereux pub on the Strand, London. Artist Michaela Nettell, sound designer Tom Simmons, and neuroscientist Hugo Spiers will present and discuss their collaborative audio-visual installations.

www.ideas-matter-sphere.com

1 Abbi Torrance, formation 1, pencil on paper, 29.5x42cm, 2011. See: ‘Bread and Roses’ 2 Susan Light, Jean Claude, oil on board, 39x34cm, 2011. See: North House Gallery, Manningtree 3 Hilary Jack, Empty Nest. See: Tatton Park Biennial

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SNAPSHOT | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

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4

5

Townley and Bradby have spent the last nine months thinking about how work and family life exist as a single entity. ‘Artists as Parents as Artists’ (Ipswich Art School Gallery, from 7 July) is a participative event with activities for children of all ages. Also in the east of England, a cast of doll characters act in contemporary and imaginary narratives, using historical and biblical painting references in Susan Light’s ‘A Doll’s House’ (North House Gallery, Manningtree, Essex,16 June – 14 July).

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www.cimuseums.org.uk www.northhousegallery.co.uk

After thirteen years in their original home, g39 in Cardiff have relocated to an expansive new space. Their first exhibition ‘The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp’ (6 June – 25 August) is a must-see. It looks at two different approaches to pursuing our goals – whether we focus our ambitions at home or further afield. Also in Wales, to coincide with BBC Springwatch’s return to Ynys Hîr RSPB Reserve, Capel y Graig will be hosting Adar 2012 (Furnace, 1-8 June). The exhibition brings together works by Denis Curry, Maria Hayes and Maura Hazelden that explore the relationship between birds and humans.

www.g39.org www.capelycraig.com

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Swansea-based Elysium gallery presents a site-responsive exhibition ‘From Purgatory to Paradise’ (7-9 June) in the old Salem Chapel.

Curated by Anne Price-Owen the show features work from Wales-based international artists Tim Davies, Craig Wood, Jacob Whittaker, Nervous Energy and the poet John Powell Ward.

www.elysiumgallery.com On 30 June, AIRTIME events for artists heads to Tatton Park. Locate like-minded artists and get timely advice from other artists and experts in a variety of fields. Also at Tatton Park is the third edition of their Biennial (to 30 September). Featured artists consider the impact of experimentation on delicate eco-systems, looking backward and forward for guidance, wisdom and/or humour.

www.air-artists.org www.tattonparkbiennial.org

4 Jem Finer, ¡Arriba!. See: Tatton Park Biennial 5 William Anastasi, Pocket Drawing, pencil on paper (folded, 8 fields, framed), 21.7x27.9cm, 2000. See: The Drawing Room 6 Dean Hughes, Bent Staples, staples, plinth dimensions 110x60x60cm, 2006. See: The Drawing Room 7 Olivier Grossetête, Pont de Singe. Photo: Thierry Bal. See: Tatton Park Biennial

HETAIN PATEL: AT HOME A TOURING EXHIBITION OF NEW WORKS IN VIDEO AND PHOTOGRAPHY NEW ART EXCHANGE

Image credit: Eva, 2012

21 APRIL – 14 JULY 2012

Contact NAE for information regarding the hire and tour of AT HOME info@nae.org.uk www.nae.org.uk

JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | What's on

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DAIWA FOUNDATION ART PRIZE 2012 Introducing British artists to Japan 8 June – 19 July 2012 Daiwa Foundation Japan House London NW1 TOM HAMMICK HAROON MIRZA JENNIFER E. PRICE Selected by: Martin Gayford Mami Kataoka Grayson Perry Masami Shiraishi Jonathan Watkins

www.parkerharris.co.uk

reflective histories

contemporary art interventions at Traquair

1 July - 30 September 2012 www.traquair.co.uk | t. 0131 557 2479 www.edinburgh-printmakers.co.uk

Traquair House, Innerleithen, Peeblesshire EH44 6PW, Scotland

For more information please call 01269 826942 email artsdevuk@aol.com or visit our website at www.artsdevelopmentuk.org

what's on | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

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ARAB SPRING

21.04.12- 09.06.12

EGYPT & LIBYA GALLERY & CINEMA

by Ivor Prickett and Guy Martin 9 Side | Newcastle upon Tyne | NE1 3JE | 0191 2322208 | www.amber-online.com | Free | All Welcome |

/sidegallery

Degree Shows Exhibition Open to the Public Wednesday 27 June–Tuesday 3 July 10am–4pm, Closed Sunday Animation

Design for Publishing

Film and Moving Image Production Fine Art

Games Art and Design

visit our website

Graphic Communication

Graphic Design Illustration

www.artspace.org.uk for information about our studios, opportunities for artists and events

Photography

Surface Design Textiles

Visual Studies The Gallery at NUCA St Georges Street Norwich NR3 1BB

T: 01603 610561 E: info@nuca.ac.uk W: www.nuca.ac.uk

LAUNCHING 2012

Tues-Sat | 11am - 5pm | Thurs 11am-7pm |

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | reviews

Critical commentary and contextualisation of contemporary art exhibitions and events across the UK and beyond. Read, comment and post your own reviews at www.a-n.co.uk/interface This month Kevin Hunt goes to Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art (GI) and selects reviews from www.a-n.co.uk/interface and beyond, giving a taster of the great things going on in the city and across Scotland.

Stumbling upon a tray of canapés within minutes of arriving in Glasgow for the opening weekend of this year’s International Festival, I knew it was going to be a crazy one. ‘Dialogue of Hands’ at City of Glasgow College was billed as ‘an outdoor sculpture park for children and adults’. Whilst toddlers obsessively rotated Camilla Løw’s multicoloured geometric constructions, the nervous smiles of grown-ups tinkering away with wooden spoons at this participatory opening performance set the tone for the conceptually entertaining whirlwind weekend of wonder that ensued.

briefly install it in your home. Ingeniously simple and wonderfully charming, it made me wonder why nobody has done it before, or at least a larger institution or public gallery with more sustainable funds and salaried staff.

Now GI is over and the hangovers have subsided, what’s left? Well for all those still sat on Karla Black’s rickety-monumental fence, you have until 24 June to see her exhibition at GoMA and make your minds up for yourselves.

Kevin Hunt is an artist and curator based in Liverpool at The Royal Standard.

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From tiny apartment lounges to magnificent museum atriums, Glasgow really flings open the doors of what feels like every conceivable space during its biennial festival that began back in 2005 and has been growing in significance and reputation on the international art circuit ever since. The big names were everywhere, with those lesser-known interspersed on an apparently level playing field that was often too crammed to comprehend – not to mention to see – in just four days. Chris Sharratt managed to encounter and digest a large portion of the festivities on offer and gives his overview of a festival that left him with “so much to think about, so much to enjoy, so much to engage with”.

The debate that ensues around Karla Black’s delicate, all-encompassing sculptural emissions was amplified at Gallery of Modern Art’s (GoMA) boozy opening, as the increasingly intoxicated crowds gazed with both amazement and sickly disgust at this giant desert-like pile. Blocking the path of all who entered, this teetering mass of blusher and sawdust garnered copious handprints, as the drunk couldn’t help but touch one of the most tantalizingly tactile ‘objects’ in the festival.

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Aside from the show-stopping puddings and crowd-pleasing inflatables – “everyone’s mum loves an artwork once it’s featured on BBC Breakfast” says Liz Murphy in her text – many gems were presented by the city’s younger artist-led organisations.

David Dales Gallery’s brand new, tile-tastic space was the perfect setting for Kilian Rüthemann & Kate V Robertson’s site-specific installation; but particular favour has to go to The Duchy, a small but perfectly formed artist-led gallery also in Glasgow’s East End. ‘Dazzler’, a solo exhibition by Pio Abad was everything its title claimed it to be – garishly brash yet taut with Duchampian poetics, begging the question: what’s not to like about an American Apparel leotard-clad mannequin doused in fake tan, draped with dreadlocks and straddling a mirror ball?

Also, well worthy of its Culture Show hype was Market Gallery’s ‘Art Lending Library’, which prominently paraded the city streets on a bustling Friday morning, guided by artists Walker & Bromwich to much fanfare as it headed towards its temporary home at Glasgow’s beautiful Mitchell Library. Here you could chat to a specially trained team of bizarrely dressed yet colour co-ordinated ‘librarians’ who, if you joined the library, would come and

1 Installation image, Karla Black at GoMA. Part of Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012.

Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne. Photo: Ruth Clark 2 Pio Abad, Dazzler, mannequin, American Apparel nude cotton spandex jersey halter leotard, orange acrylic paint, blonde beaded wig, straw cowboy hat, digitally printed ‘Loot (scarlet)’ silk scarf, mask with mirror ball buttons, Republican party elephant lapel pin, 5 cm mirror ball on dog tag chain, fake silver cuff bracelets, blue cowboy boots, 50 cm mirror ball, play sand and digital print on Spandex ImagePerfect sandblast wallpaper, 2012. Courtesy: the artist and The Duchy. Photo: Alan Dimmick

reviews | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

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Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012 Various venues, Glasgow 20 April – 7 May

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Art you can play with, art you can bounce on, art you can take home for three days and put on your wall (or in your DVD player, or on your mantelpiece). You don’t have to look far at Glasgow International (GI) to find work that’s hands-on and playful – but that’s only part of the story.

The bouncing is courtesy of Jeremy Deller on Glasgow Green – the city’s oldest and most central public park. Sacrilege is a life-size replica of Stonehenge, bouncy castle-style. It’s a celebration of play and letting go, for children and grown-ups alike. But it could also be about Britishness and identity and what it all means – or doesn’t. It’s the kind of clever, sociallyengaged idea that has become Deller’s trademark.

The open, public nature of Sacrilege sets the tone for a festival that, on the whole, is good-natured, giving and rooted in human experience. Rooted in the city, too – many of the featured artists are based in or have strong links with Glasgow.

In ‘Dialogue of Hands’, an outside sculpture park at Glasgow City College, we’re invited to touch, walk on and play with the work of Corin Sworn, Mary Redmond, Camilla Løw and Chris Johanson. The spirit of 1960s social and artistic experimentation is writ large here, although, for adults at least, the idea is possibly more engaging than the reality.

At the festival Hub, Rosalind Nashashibi presents her new film Lovely Young People (Beautiful Supple Bodies), a co-commission with Scottish Ballet. Shot on 16mm film, dancers practice their steps while a variety of spectators – mums and dads, siblings, a gaggle of delightful old ladies, a couple of mesmerised policemen – look on. We can hear and see the physical effort of the dancers, feel the heat and energy. It’s intimate, witty and surprisingly moving.

Over at the neoclassical Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Karla Black has filled the ground floor gallery with seventeen tonnes of sawdust, arranged in layers like some vast sponge cake. It fits snugly in the centre of the space, between the building’s Corinthian columns. Cellophane and sticky tape, twisted together to make swags and daubed in gold paint, hang from the ceiling. The materials are familiar to Black’s work, but the effect is fresh and, despite its scale, respectful – reverential, even – of its setting.

Not so Rob Kennedy at the Centre for Contemporary Arts. He’s reconfigured gallery spaces, hacked holes in walls and used the debris to build a rickety tower for video monitors. He asks in the show’s title, ‘Is there anything to do here, is there anything to see?’ It sounds like a wind up, but the answer is, of course, ‘Yes’: Kennedy’s own video works are dotted about the galleries and in the small cinema, presented alongside pieces by other artists, including a small, malevolently dark painting by Walter Sickert, Jack The Ripper’s Bedroom.

Nestled discretely in the intimate Italian Gallery of Kelvingrove Museum is more recent art history, courtesy of Richard Wright. Best known for his temporary wall paintings, here we’re treated to a retrospective of his works on paper. Displayed in the manner of a busy, Victorian art museum – minus the chunky gold frames – they are intricate and labour-intensive explorations of pattern and image making; quietly powerful, they speak in hushed tones.

At the tiny Kendall Koppe gallery, Emory Douglas, former Minister of Culture for the Black Panther party, is most definitely shouting, loud and clear. He presents a small selection of 1960s propaganda images, as they appeared in the Black Panther newspapers of the time. These calls for righteous retribution against the white ‘pigs’ were real and heartfelt, intended for the street rather than the art gallery. Framing the actual newspaper pages emphasises their place in history.

Chris Johanson, The Song The Sun Sent Us, 2012. Part of Dialogue of Hands, Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012. Courtesy: the artist

There are other lessons in history, too. At The Modern Institute, ‘If you don’t like this book you don’t like me’ reveals the fraught contents of influential American artist Paul Thek’s notebooks, presented under glass in museum cases. Thek died of AIDS in 1988, a marginalised figure after making a significant, and often disruptive, impact in the 1960s and 1970s.

There are a small number of his paintings and a film, too. It’s a lovingly assembled and utterly absorbing show.

South of the Clyde, in the Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed Scotland Street School Museum (a history lesson in itself), Ruth Ewan presents a fascinating sift through the archives of Glasgow’s Socialist Sunday School movement. On my visit, a socialist magician was in full swing – Marx’s theory of value with added laughs.

At Tramway, it’s the sideshows rather than the main events that are most satisfying. Moyra Davey’s Les Goddesses, in which the artist recounts the life story of Mary Wollstonecraft while pacing around her flat, is a simplystaged but captivating hour; Redmond Entwistle’s film about the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) offers an intriguing insight into the institutionalisation of ideas.

Tramway’s main space is filled by Kelly Nipper’s Black Forest, an installation involving masked dancers and a large curtain that divides the gallery. There are monochrome patterns on the white walls and cushions on the floor. It’s light and breezy and a little inconsequential.

More engaging is Wolfgang Tillmans at The Common Guild, particularly the installation upstairs. There are photographs of varying sizes, from a tiny black and white image of a tree canopy to a large and curiously disorientating picture of a silverskin onion. Curvy close-ups of car headlights snake up the stairwell, there’s an angrily frothing waterfall, a gruesome-looking surgical procedure, a solemn gathering of Maasai people. Pictures are displayed on doors, in corners, at different heights – it’s almost as if they’re observing us rather than the other way round.

That onion picture would look fantastic in my living room, but sadly Tillmans isn’t part of the ‘Art Lending Library’ at The Mitchell Library. My membership number is 018. So, what to borrow? Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan’s shoes perhaps, or David Sherry’s Andy Kaufman picture? Or maybe that Peter Evans lithograph or Bill Drummond’s Golden Syrup tin?

So much to think about, so much to enjoy, so much to engage with – the GI experience in a nutshell, in fact.

Chris Sharratt is editor of a-n's Degree Shows Guide 2012. He is a writer and journalist based in Glasgow.

Reprinted with the kind permission of www.creativetimes.co.uk

JUL – 12 AUG b-side multimedia 27 WEYMOUTH festival 2012 + multimedia arts festival

art in unexpected places to delight and provoke

29 AUG – 09 SEPT PORTLAND

www.b-side.org.uk twitter.com/bsidefest facebook.com/bsidefest

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | reviews

Jeremy Deller, Sacrilege, 2012. Photo: Angela Catlin

Karla, Jeremy and Margaret (my Mum) Bouncing on a life-size inflatable replica of an English Heritage Site is the only true way to rid yourself of the classy next day feeling you get after a twelve-hour champagne launch party hangover.

Lying on a Saturday morning with my face pressed down on the table in the CCA café trying to not to be sick from too much art and fun the night before. Trapped in a reoccurring argument about the faults of the Karla Black at the GOMA versus the benefits of a fanciful arrangement of cellophane… I am not a fan – others, it appears, are. I hate the top part, the plastic’s an unnecessary add-on that destroys the work below.

The sawdust says everything I think the piece needs to say, the contradictions inherent in its structure and material being enough to keep me interested momentarily. It’s monumental and it’s ephemeral, I get it and I kind of like it. Don’t hang the plastic overhead, now it’s bad.

It reminds me of an old Chanel quote “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory.” All this is obviously only my opinion, a personal viewpoint that I am now repeating over and over to an ever-increasing army of Karla fans.

The discussion is interrupted by a text from home. Mum’s suddenly in on the debate, not about Black (although she saw the other Karla piece in the last GOMA exhibition and was not a fan.) Mums have an odd habit of cropping up at large-scale art events and breaking important news to their artist children without really knowing it. My mum was one of the first people to see the Anish Kapoor piece at the Venice Biennial last year when site-seeing with a friend in Italy. (Judging by her text back then she was not impressed and not that easy to please!) This time she’d seen Jeremy Deller on BBC Breakfast and became hyper excited! Rumours had been rife the night before about what the Deller is or might turn out to be.

Though it was supposedly under wraps, word had leaked out to those in the know. However the official morning BBC announcement had been made whilst all the GI goers were eating hotel breakfasts, too busy twirling cereal turbines or having power smoothies to care. Everyone’s mum loves an artwork once it’s featured on BBC Breakfast and she had text clear instructions that we must visit it immediately and report back. Mum also added that she thought Deller was an “intelligent man” a phrase she had only used once before to describe Shaun Caton, a performance artist who she met once in a pub in York.

So with the hangover’s guilt in place we boarded a coach and set off to Glasgow Green. It’s hard to recall exactly what happened next, it exists in my mind as a blur of Facebook profile picture-worthy moments and excitable tweets #livefromthedeller.

Curators being hit in the face by their own press pass when it’s caught in the breeze on the jump up. Children taken out by smartly dressed adults as they run around the perimeter of the ‘henge. (which, thanks to some unknown scientific reason makes them run faster than they ever thought they could, causing a temporarily apt Olympian feeling.) The elderly ‘face planting’ after the obligatory ‘in air forward roll on a bouncy castle’ move.

The art world’s top critical thinkers embroiled in some kind of fun house carnage. It’s hard to know what to say really. It raised a lot of questions and has subsequently propelled me into some kind of inner conflict.

No I don’t know why it cost so much, and I don’t know if it is a justifiable amount to spend given the UK’s current arts funding situation. I don’t know if he stole the idea from Jim Ricks (like everyone says on the Guardian comments page). I don’t know why the press photo shows a chirpy Deller bouncing alongside primary school children whilst wearing a 90s-inspired tie-dye long-sleeve top. I don’t know why they took Stonehenge to Scotland. I don’t know if it actually is life-size...

I also genuinely don’t know if any of this matters.

Maybe I have just gone a bit Allan Kaprow, or maybe it really is just about the moment. The moment which levels all things economic, social and educational, where no matter who you are you will have already taken off your shoes before you have even reached the queue. Our response to this is in-built, it’s genetic and it’s all-consuming. “GET ME ON THE DELLER” is what people shout as they push past. They don't even know they said it; it just fell out their mouths as they were running. It’s cool to be critical, so the odds were stacked against Sacrilege right from the start, but I have given in. Like so many of Jeremy Deller’s works, I don’t want to like them but I do. Sometimes we shit ourselves because fun stuff isn’t serious, but this work is testament to the fact that sometimes it is actually the thing of most value.

It seems legendary because it is. My mum said so.

Liz Murphy is an artist, curator and lecturer based in North West England.

reviews | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

How to Celebrate an Art Festival “The way to qualify the success of an art festival that I am most interested in highlighting, is its ability to instigate offshoots and outbursts of friendly revelry inspired by, but not always in conjunction with, its build up, reveal and temporal existence. The festival’s offerings should transcend their object-hood to become a stimulation point that spurs on each sentient individual to re-invigorate their day-to-day engagements with the microcreative-communities that will be in their lives long after the bunting is taken down. A festival noted for this possibility is already half way there.”

Oliver Braid is an artist based in Glasgow www.oliverbraid.tumblr.com www.ellieandoliver.co.uk

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3 Films Centrespace, VRC, Dundee 14 April - 20 May 2012 “Invisible (1995) identifies exactly what Gerrets is not. He, like the majority of others, becomes affected by the lives of those around him, unable to stay in an outsider neutral position. However, authorship and legitimacy, prevalently grey areas in both visual arts and media, strike the viewer in both Invisible and People I Could Have Been and Maybe Am.” Holly Knox Yeoman is a Contemporary Arts Facilitator based in Edinburgh. hollyknoxyeoman.blogspot.com

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Read the full review of ‘3 Films’ at www.a-n.co.uk/interface/reviews/single/2182479

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Read the full text of ‘How to Celebrate an Art Festival’ at www.a-n.co.uk/interface/reviews/single/2222967

Utopia in Retrospect Howden Park Centre, Livingston 14 April – 21 May “The Hacienda is a seductive image, which both invites and holds at a distance. Is this the infamous Manchester dance club once jam-packed full of 24-hour party people during the 1990s? If so, then Ross M Brown’s evocation of the present emptiness of this space has a melancholy similar to that of the 18th-century French romantic painter Jean Watteau’s painting Pilgrimage to Cythera. In the painting Watteau pictures a group of young people embarking on a trip to Cythera, the mythical island of love – a destination which is impossible to arrive at.

Brown plays with the notion that post-modern youth sub-culture is, in some way, linked to a romantic pastoral past. The question is: is this Utopian? The hedonism associated with The Ha˜ienda (and rave culture in general) and which also applies to the 18th-century party people in Watteau’s painting, does not necessarily relate to utopian ideals. The party is over in Watteau’s vignette; Brown’s party, on the other hand, has not even started yet. His optimistic statement suggesting that the spaces he paints are places where “new possibilities and meanings can be found” hint that, for him at least, the mythical island of Cythera is not beyond reach.”

Cathy Bell is a freelance artist, writer and curator.

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Read the full review of ‘Utopia in Retrospect’ at www.a-n.co.uk/interface/reviews/ single/2222358

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Oliver Braid and studio friends.

Read more reviews or post your own www.a-n.co.uk/interface Follow at www.twitter.com/art_writing

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Critical dialogue, networking, skill based workshops, knowledge sharing, mentoring Q&A Public Talk with Director Kate Brindley d sculpture

Exhibiting

Offsite project/incubation spaces

The Human Body, Death and the Vessel in Art

Thursday 4 October, 5.30pm

dneedleprize.com

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Booking for all talks essential. Call mima reception on 01642 726 720 or by email mimabookings@middlesbrough.gov.uk visitmima.com for more information

Thursday 11 October, 5.30pm

Curator’s Talk: Metadomestic

Wednesday 12 September, 12.30pm

society of wildlife artists Private View: Wednesday 31 Oct Opens to public: Thursday 1 Nov, 10am-5pm including weekends Closes: Sunday 11 Nov, 1pm

Opens: Tuesday 8 May Closes: Thursday 16 Aug, 12noon Notification of pre-selection posted on www.mallgalleries.org.uk/notification Thursday 23 Aug (If pre-selected, please deliver your work(s) on the receiving days listed below)

exhibitioN dates

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Including all new CG Associates: opportunities for artists, curators and writers

A talk by lecturer Dr Gail-Nina Anderson Saturday 22 September, 12.30pm

The Home in Art

A talk by lecturer Dr Gail-Nina Anderson Saturday 15 September, 12.30pm

Curator’s Talk: Exploring Quietus 03/05/2012 10:59

E: info@mallgalleries.com Monday 10 Sept & Tuesday 11 Sept, 10am-5pm Notification of acceptance posted on www.mallgalleries.org.uk/notification Friday 14 Sept collectioN of uNaccepted work

Saturday 22 Sept or Wednesday 26 Sept, 10am-5pm collectioN of uNsold exhibitioN work

awards & prizes

Valuable prizes to be won including the £1,000 Birdwatch Artist of the Year Award, plus The Wildlife Trust Undersea Wildlife Art Bursary and SWLA Bursaries of up to £750 for young artists. coNditioNs

Maximum of six works submitted.

Maximum of six works selected.

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Acceptable media: Work may be in any medium including sculpture and original prints (please detail edition and how many are available). With larger and/or heavier sculptures, paintings and works exceeding 2.4m (8ft) it may not be possible to receive the work itself, please contact the Exhibitions Officer for advice and permission to submit images instead. Work exhibited previously in London is not admissible. All works must be for sale.

Minimum price: £300, unframed prints: £120.

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Private View: Thursday 29 Nov Opens to public: Friday 30 Nov, 10am-5pm including weekends Closes: Sunday 9 Dec, 1pm

Opens: Monday 11 June Closes: Thursday 13 Sept, 12noon Notification of pre-selection posted on www.mallgalleries.org.uk/notification Thursday 20 Sept (If pre-selected, please deliver your work(s) on the receiving days listed below)

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Any work depicting wildlife subjects is admissible. The committee will also consider work that evokes the spirit of the natural world.

Botanical subjects and domestic animals are NOT admissible.

nformation adneedleprize.com

worth of prizes

ONLINE REGISTRATION AND DIGITAL SUBMISSION

UK’s leading showcase hat promote the practice hallenge its language and rages both experienced and sh and intriguing works that vations on the world.

New website online mid-June www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk 

Castlefield Gallery | Agency re-launches Summer 2012 Saturday 29 September,12.30pm

Artist Talk: Julian Stair

Panel discussion led by photographer Julian Germain. In association with Saltburn Arts Fair, saltburnartsfair.co.uk Saturday 4 August 11am – 12.30pm Saltburn Community Theatre

Desired Futures #3 People and Society Symposium

mima|events

FBA June 2012.indd 1

T: 020 7930 6844

Deadline 21 June BITE: Artists making prints Deadline 12 July Royal Society of Marine New oNliNe registratioN aNd digital submissioN – Artists makiNg it easier to eNter our opeNofcompetitioNs! 8 May to 16 August Society Wildlife Artists 11 June to 13 September New English Art Club 2 July to 11 October Royal Institute of Oil Painters every year For more details and a full list of opportunities, visit www.mallgalleries.org.uk/entries

You can now register and upload images of your work Artists win over online when applying for all FBA open exhibitions. £75,000

NEW!

coNditioNs

Maximum of six works submitted.

Maximum of five works selected.

Acceptable media: Paintings, drawings, pastels, original framed prints (please detail edition). Sculpture is NOT admissible. We cannot receive pictures taller than 2.4m (8ft), please call in advance if your work exceeds this. All works must be for sale. Minimum price: £300, unframed prints: £120.

Visit www.a-n.co.uk/jobs_and_opps for comprehensive, searchable jobs and opportunities listings, plus employer profiling and special features.

Jobs and opps provides a fresh focus on the environment for work and career development in the visual arts.

lgalleries.org.uk/bite

More information - www.mallgalleries.org.uk/english

royal iNstitute of oil paiNters

17 Oct, 10am-5pm

won by non-member artists, rtists’ Award.

£6 OF YOUr sUbmissiOn Fee is On Us!

Private View: Tuesday 11 Dec Opens to public: Wednesday 12 Dec, 10am-5pm including weekends Closes: Sunday 23 Dec, 1pm

Opens: Monday 2 July Closes: Thursday 11 Oct, 12noon Notification of pre-selection posted on www.mallgalleries.org.uk/notification Thursday 18 Oct (If pre-selected, please deliver your work(s) on the receiving days listed below)

exhibitioN dates

registratioN & digital submissioN

We have teamed up with Cass Art, London’s leading Art retailer, to offer you a voucher for £6 off all products at any of the Cass Art stores in London (www.cassart.co.uk) when you spend £10.00 or more. Register online using the NEW Mall Galleries digital submission process and download your voucher now.

awards & prizes

Numerous artists’ awards and prizes are available for members and non-members to win.

This offer is exclusive to artists entering Mall Galleries open exhibitions and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.

£6 off

at Cass Art when you spend £10 or more

receiviNg days

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Friday 2 Nov & Saturday 3 Nov, 10am-5pm Notification of acceptance posted on www.mallgalleries.org.uk/notification Thursday 3 Nov

JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | opportunities

lic, watercolour, original

For more details, see the HOW TO SUBMIT WORK section of the leaflet, visit www.mallgalleries.org.uk/entries or call 020 7930 6844

coNditioNs

Maximum of six works submitted.

Maximum of four works selected.

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Acceptable media: Oils. Acrylic is acceptable if it

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opportunities | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

Commission for a Disabled Artist in partnership with We are seeking proposals for a site specific artwork to be housed on the ramp area of The Public building. The work should present a degree of interactivity and or sensory feedback.

The work does not have to be technology based to achieve interactivity.

Artists are encouraged to visit The Public and discuss proposals with the Exhibitions Team prior to submission – note that there is no financial support available for these visits.

The Public will provide a pack of information, photos and plans to support the applications.

The award of £7000 covers artist fee, all materials, travel and accommodation.

The £7000 can be used as match funding for G4A applications. DASH will provide support to the successful artist to apply for a G4A grant.

Apply to: Graham Peet - Exhibitions Manager graham_peet@sandwell.gov.uk Sandwell Arts Trust | The Public | New Street | West Bromwich | B70 7PG Application Deadline: 24.08.12

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | opportunities

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SHORT COURSES 10 – 15 June 14 June

The Drawing Theatre - life drawing workshop London Drawing Painting as poetry Emily Ball Human to Abstract: Painting feeling and experience Matthew Collings

16 June 4 – 10 August 4 – 10 August

Transcription – a painting dialogue with Giotto and Cézanne Bob Stone 2 – 7 September Large-scale sculptures in polystyrene John Blakeley 15 – 18 October

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Sculpting the female figure in clay Ian Edwards A creative launch pad Isobel Smith

For further information and a list of all our short courses, visit our website www.westdean.org.uk/college West Dean College, West Dean, Chichester, West Sussex PO18 0QZ bookingsoffice@westdean.org.uk 0844 4994408, New to West Dean? Get a 10% discount when you book by phone.

If you pay in full online you will receive a 5% discount. Prices already adjusted.

The opening programme for VIVID PROJECTS launches September 2012 PRESENTING FILM INSTALLATION, LIVE PERFORMANCE, SOUND AND INTERVENTION.

REVEALING THE UNSEEN, FOSTERING THE EMERGENT. Stay informed at facebook.com/VIVIDbham Twitter: VIVID_

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opportunities | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE | art services

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art services | A-N MAGAZINE | JUNE 2012

ART SERVICES Your guide to specialist services and suppliers for the visual arts.

Go to www.a-n.co.uk/spotlight for our Art services online feature.

For Sale

Services

Transport

Clodagh Boyd Artist Life Coach

For Sale - Idyllic Hideaway with Views 2 bed detached Welsh stone cottage, parking, south facing garden, near Hay-on-Wye, plus planning permission for 2 storey studio/ extension - £188,000 (Corrected Price) Tel 01981 550486 or 07533 930160 susanthornton1@gmail.com

www.suethornton.co.uk See website for images of local Black Mountain landscapes!

Internet

SCULPTURE TRANSPORT & INSTALLATION

One to one life coaching Overcoming creative blocks Professional development Constructive appraisals Confidence building

07960 359 265 info@clodaghboyd-lifecoach.com www.clodaghboyd-lifecoach.com

Studios

platform bytheprom creative web design for artists + makers websites blogs online shops arttalk contact: rosy naylor studio@platformdesigns.co.uk www.platformdesigns.co.uk

tel. 0131 669 9343



A complete, all-terrain service providing any, or all aspects from collection and delivery to site preparation and final fixing.

Inclusive Goods in Transit insurance cover to £75,000 (more by arrangement)

Damon Bramley 0701 0701 120

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JUNE 2012 | A-N MAGAZINE

«clikpic» Websites for artists and photographers

Your own website for only £40 p.a.

Clikpic is an award-winning service for any artist or photographer who wants a great website without the cost and hassle of setting one up.

With minimal expertise required, you can use our online admin system, a variety of beautifully designed templates and a vast array of customisable features, to create and edit your own website quickly, easily and very cost-effectively.

“ 94% of artists recommend AIRTIME” Seeking info on insurance, funding and professional development?

Want to develop your networks and collaborations?

Locate like-minded artists and get advice from experts at events open to all visual and applied artists.

“Any artist looking to set up a website need look no further than Clikpic. The system is easy to set up, easy to use and is excellent value for money.”

Chris Shipgood www.chrisshipgoodart.com

Look out for future events including: 30 June - Tatton Park, partnership with Tatton Park Biennial 8 July - Andover, partnership with Chapel Studios 12 September - Whitstable, partnership with Whitstable Biennale These are free events, but as places are limited pre-booking is essential.

Booking info www.a-n.co.uk/AIR or contact airevents@a-n.co.uk with AIR TIME and your preferred location in the title.

"Really enjoyed AIRTIME because I could move around the tables each with different organisations and make new connections".

The membership scheme for practising visual and applied artists attached to the a-n Artist subscription, providing them with representation and professional benefits including free £5m Public & Products Liability insurance, AIR – Artists Interaction and Representation is enabled by a-n The Artists Information Company.

This programme in partnership with DACS (Design and Artists Copyright Society).

“I recommend Clikpic to any photographers thinking of building a website.”

Amateur Photographer magazine

“For a very affordable annual outlay, Clikpic has enabled me to promote my artwork worldwide, accelerating the growth of my small, home-based business.”

Amy Yates www.aimlessart.com

Visit www.clikpic.com for a FREE 14 day trial

If you are an organisation or university that would like to partner on a future AIRTIME event please contact edward.adam@a-n.co.uk

PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT edit@a-n.co.uk Head of Programmes & Editor Gillian Nicol Programme Development & Production Stephen Palmer, Tim Clark, Michaela Nettell, Marjorie Stephen a-n Magazine Coordinator, Chris Brown Online Editors Kate Brundrett (Jobs & opps), Andrew Bryant (Artists talking), Jack Hutchinson (AIR), Richard Taylor (Degrees unedited) Opportunities Development Rebecca Catterall, Jo Coupe, Michael Cousin, Aviva Leeman, Castlefield Gallery AIR Secretariat Sheena Etches air.secretariat@a-n.co.uk AIRTIME events Ed Adam air.events@a-n.co.uk Please note: our edit@a-n.co.uk mailbox cannot accept attachments bigger than 1MB. You are welcome to send press releases but please do not send unsolicited hi-resolution images to this mailbox.

COMMUNICATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS Head of Communications & Partnerships Jo Wilson Campaigns Research Pippa Koszerek, Eleonora Schinella, Maggie Tran Production Robin Bootes, Jennie Picken, Maureen Royal OPERATIONS SERVICES Financial Manager Anne Meikle Operations Manager Tracy Adamson DIRECTOR Director & Publisher Susan Jones Consultancy Richard Padwick (Knowledge Management) Peter Olsen www.horwathcw.com (Financial consultant) board of directors Manick Govinda, Jayne Knight (Chair), Mitra Memarzia (Vice Chair), Simon Pallett (Company Secretary), Esther Salamon, Paul Scott, Nicholas Sharp.

Design, Founded / wearefounded.com Print, Stephens & George Print Group addressES Newcastle Editorial, accounts, subscriptions, general enquiries The Toffee Factory S19, Lower Steenbergs Yard, Quayside, Ouseburn, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 2DF +44 (0)300 330 0706 info@a-n.co.uk Phone lines open: Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri 9-2pm; Tues closed London Advertising, Editorial, Unit 16, Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street, London, E1 6AB +44 (0)300 330 0706 ads@a-n.co.uk Phone lines open: 10-5pm Mon-Fri. SUBSCRIPTIONS subs@a-n.co.uk Artist + AIR UK £36 Arts organiser UK £36 See www.a-n.co.uk/subscribe Advertising ads@a-n.co.uk Online – deadline ongoing for www.a-n.co.uk www.a-n.co.uk/advertise for Advertising rates

ISSN 02613425

Same insight Different Format New news service launches July providing timely, inquisitive and responsive news with regular bulletins.

© artists, writers, photographers and a-n: The Artists Information Company 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission of the publisher. a-n accepts no responsibility for loss or damage of material submitted for publication. The views expressed in a-n are not necessarily those of the Editors or the Publisher. Published by a-n: The Artists Information Company.

Registered in England Company No: 1626331 Registered address FIFTEEN Rosehill, Montgomery Way, Rosehill Estate, Carlisle CA1 2RW

Watch out for more good things to come.

Interactive ways to make, find and fund work / personalised tools for collaboration / more opportunities to get together face to face. a-n.co.uk/whats_next #anwhatsnext

Through advocacy and information and from the perspective of artists, a-n’s mission is to stimulate and support contemporary visual arts practice and affirm the value of artists in society.