Last week I had the final two of my Re:view meetings. This brings an end to the bursary period, which began in April. I’ve been blogging here throughout this process but wanted at this end point, to summarise and attempt to evaluate the experience as a whole.
I thought it would be helpful to look back at what I wanted to achieve with the bursary. Here’s what I wrote in my application:
“My application is to critically review a current research and practice-based project investigating ideas of gift, generosity and reciprocity. The project began 6 months ago as an open-ended exploration into what these ideas meant for me in my life and art practice, and have found expression through a series of conversations, collaborations, research, online projects and artworks… I hope… to develop my knowledge of methodologies in participatory and collaborative working and co-research which I then can apply to my own projects; and to critically discuss ethics and politics of participation (including power, ownership, access, hierarchy, authorship) which will help me to identify the socio-political contexts I want to locate my practice (e.g. co-operative or critical in relation to market and state institutions ). This process I hope will enable me to better define and articulate my practice, in spoken and written contexts, and increase my likelihood of accessing other opportunities: e.g. residencies, commissions, collaborative projects and potential funding streams. I would particularly like to gain some practical support and advice with an application to ACE. I would also envisage the process will lead to signposting to new areas of research, access to new contacts and networks in art, communities and education, and expanded local knowledge of the networks and communities I hope to work with. Finally these sessions will lead to strengthened links and relationships with my mentors which can continue in the future in the form of more informal dialogue.”
I chose three artists working in Bradford and Leeds, where my own practice is based, across a spread of practices within broadly defined ‘socially engaged’ contexts: Caroline Hick, Sarah Spanton and Andy Abbott. I chose artists I have connections with and/or have worked with in different capacities but with whom I would not normally have the opportunity for formal, focussed review with. I elected to have two meetings with each artist.
In the first sessions, I used the above text as the basis for discussion, circulating it to the artists beforehand. As expected, these first meetings began with a broad discussion of my work and concerns, then moving onto talk about a number of ongoing and planned projects, including: a collective blog,(http://wurblog.wordpress.com) a collaboration with family members in response to my late Nana’s photographic archive, a potluck lunch as part of PANDEMIC Leeds (an event linking art, performance and talks to the state of capitalism, economies and society) and a series of gift economy projects/actions in empty shop spaces. With each of the artists, the focus was slightly different: with Sarah Spanton discussion included structures and ethos behind the skills exchange projects we were each involved in ( Sarah is co-founder of Leeds Creative TimeBank), as well as intersections between art and activism, with Andy Abbott the discussion was more focussed on DIY practices and politics, and collective working, and with Caroline Hick on fundamental questions: what motivates me? what am I the agent of? who is my work for? As well as an exploration of the potential of using my Nana’s archive to explore a wider, less personal project.
Because my focus was so wide, I felt quite overwhelmed by the depth and range of discussion generated from these first sessions ( Though I was encouraged, through looking at blogs by other Re:view recipients to discover that this was a common experience). These first meetings also took place at a time when I was very busy with a number of projects – including planning and running Bradford Baked Zines http://bradfordbakedzines.wordpress.com/ a week-long popup zine shop and event series with the Loosely Bound zine collective, and planning and carrying out the first Wur gift circle at the DIY Symposium in Bradford with fellow Wur bloggers Ivan and Georgia Mack.
Continued next post…
