Forma, the Newcastle-born, London-based arts producing agency, is going through a period of reflection and celebration. Founding artistic director, David Metcalfe, marks a decade of commissioning new work this month, celebrating alongside many of the artists and organisations he has worked with to realise projects memorable for their ambition and sense of occasion.
From exhibitions to public art, concerts to film, Forma has explored the boundaries of art, performance and technology with artists including Jane and Louise Wilson, Laurie Anderson, Richard Wilson and Doug Fishbone. Emerging in 2002 from the personal practice of Metcalfe as a curator and producer, Forma’s first significant achievement was establishing an organisation that sought to offer expert facilitation and delivery of artistic projects, at a time when the role was less clearly defined.
“The role of a producer wasn’t as recognised then as it is now,” recalls Metcalfe. “Forma emerged over a three-year period when I worked independently and kept on securing funding to develop new work, which in turn developed my track record as a producer. The agency really came about when the Arts Council acknowledged this, and started to listen to the things I’d been saying all along.”
Making remarkable work happen
Metcalfe’s vision and persuasive list of achievements gave rise to a producing agency that has been making remarkable work happen internationally, working with creatives including sound artists, performers and sculptors ever since. Artist, filmmaker and 2006 Beck’s Futures winner, Matt Stokes, worked with Forma in 2010. Stuck with a proposal and nowhere to go ahead of an exhibition at Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany, he gave Metcalfe a call.
“I came to them late in the day with a clear idea of what I wanted to do,” he says of Cantata Profana, his mesmerising exploration of the human voice, layering six choreographed performances by heavy metal singers across a multi-screen video installation. “I had funding from the Kunsthalle, but not enough. I spoke to David because I suspected he might like the idea. He did, and it just so happened that two of the Forma team were living in Berlin, where I was keen to produce the video. They helped to make it happen by finding people who knew the city inside out, making it easier to find venues and recording studios.”
The important role that Forma played, and continue to play in the professional lives of artists, is, according to Stokes, that of the ‘nuts and bolts’ – day-to-day activity that needs to go ahead to get a project off the ground. “They are very efficient, which is great for an artist because, if we’re honest, artists aren’t generally very efficient. We’re dealing with so many aspects of realising our ideas, but a good producer comes in and remains slightly distant from it, instead bringing technical and practical expertise.”
Funding and the future
In the past ten years, funding in the visual arts has hit a rocky path, and like many Metcalfe foresees a further five-year decline. By engaging with festival producers and looking internationally for collaborators and partners, Forma haven’t relied on regular funding from Arts Council England, so have been impacted less by direct government spending cuts. Festival commissions have become less frequent though, as the economic malaise hits more international territories. Metcalfe sees part of the solution, for Forma and perhaps the broader arts sector, in applying the agency’s artistic innovation to more commercial partnerships.
“Last year we did our first purely commercial project, working with Honda to launch a new model of car – although we were clear it had to have integrity as a piece of work in itself. Having done technically complex work internationally, we can apply our experience to work with brands. Our first commercial project was with Beck’s Fusions in 2007, and ideally we’ll be doing those more often in the future, putting the money back into our artistic programme.”
One of the ten artists and groups who took part in that 2007 Beck’s commission, A Secret Understanding – a series of specially-commissioned films made by visual artists in response to rare or unheard versions of songs – was Graham Dolphin. His praise for Metcalfe and his team appears unwavering. “The most important thing is that they carry through the trust they first felt in commissioning you,” he says. “They put a huge amount of faith in you to carry the name of the commissioning agency and there’s also the money involved. It’s quite a difficult relationship to manage, but David and his staff do that by being interested and engaged in your practice. I never once felt that I had to produce something that felt at odds with my normal conceptual base.”
To bring a decade to a close and look forward to the one ahead, Forma have commissioned five short films by award-winning documentary maker Sam Blair, reappraising some landmark projects, including writer Michael Bracewell reflecting on experiencing Insen, a collaboration in electronic music by Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto at the Barbican in 2006. A series of limited edition prints and newly announced projects – from Mark Boulos (showing at FACT, Liverpool in October), Richard Skelton, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, and filmmaker Bill Morrison and composer Jóhann Jóhannsson – complete the birthday celebrations. But, as the candles on the cake are blown out, one man will be feeling anything but smug about Forma’s achievements.
“As a producer you’re never really completely satisfied,” says Metcalfe. “You’re propelled to take on the next project having thought that something could have been done bigger or done differently. You can’t look back; you are spurred on to keep testing boundaries.”
More on a-n.co.uk:
Production lines – Charlotte Frost’s publication provides a guide to the various pathways dedicated organisations are forging in the production of inter-disciplinary visual arts. Includes Frost’s 2008 profile of Forma.
Richard Wilson – Simon Morrissey meets the artist as he is installing ’Irons in the Fire’, his 2002 touring exhibition produced by Forma.
