JANUARY
A Benefit Auction For Sluice
This biennial fundraiser is a chance for artists, gallerists and collectors to express their support for Sluice’s programme, with proceeds enabling it to continue to stage non-profit art fairs (see October) and associated events that promote the DIY nature of the artist/curator-run and emerging sector. Included are works by Ben Coode-Adams, Cathy Lomax, Eleanor Morgan, Gordon Shrigley and many more.
January 15-29, paddle8.com/auction/sluice
Granted: a-n Recreate events
a-n comes to Chatham in Kent for final two professional development workshops in its partnership with Medway Council’s Recreate project. Artists and arts organisers can spend a full day gaining insight into the practical issues of public art and commissioning with Frances Lord, and explore the behaviours and characteristics of collaboration in a half-day workshop led by Chris Fremantle.
16 January 2015, 10am-4pm, Negotiating public art and commissioning projects with Frances Lord;
26 January 2015, 10am-1pm, Collaborate Creatively with Chris Fremantle. Both at Sun Pier House, Medway Street, Chatham.
Digital Utopias
The artists Thomson & Craighead, Open Data Institute, writer and curator Morgan Quaintance, Google Creative Lab UK, Furtherfield’s Ruth Catlow, Rhizome and a notable list of other artists, critics and technology organisations will give marathon-style presentations, provide clinics and showcase projects that explore new technologies within the arts. Curated by Abandon Normal Devices, this Arts Council England event takes place at Hull Truck Theatre as a trailblazer for Hull City of Culture 2017.
20 January, 10am-5pm, Hull Truck Theatre, Ferensway, Hull.
www.artscouncil.org.uk/jobs-and-conferences/conferences/digital-utopias
Artists working in HE
Academics and artists are invited to this discursive event that considers the role that artists play within higher education and the modes in which they work. Organised by Castlefield Gallery as part of the project, Co-producing legacy: What is the role of artists within Connected Communities?, speakers include Castlefield’s Kwong Lee and a-n director Jeanie Scott.
21 January, 11am-4pm, New Art Spaces Federation House, Federation St/Balloon St, Manchester, www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk
London Art Fair
As well as gallery stands presenting modern British and contemporary art, this year’s Art Projects’ – the curated section for young and emerging art spaces – includes Manchester-based Paper and Worcester-based Division of Labour. Dialogues, a further curated section that pairs up UK and internationally-based galleries for a collaborative presentation, returns for its second year, with curatorial matchmaker Anna Colin (co-curator of British Art Show 8) pairing up eight galleries including London’s Space In Between with Paris-based Grey Area.
21-25 January, Business Design Centre, Islington, London, www.londonartfair.co.uk
Take The Money And Run? – An Event About Ethics, Funding and Art
In reaction to recent debate about the ethics of corporate sponsorship for the arts, this day of presentations, provocations and discussions will look at the challenges faced by artists and arts organisations who seek a more ethical approach to fundraising. Contributors include: Dave Beech, Rachel Spence, Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey and Judith Knight among others. £12.50, including refreshments, lunch and a complimentary copy of Jane Trowell’s publication Take The Money And Run? Some positions on ethics, business sponsorship and making art.
29 January, 10am-5pm, Toynbee Studios, London, www.artsadmin.co.uk
FEBRUARY
Contracts – uses and abuses
Specially devised by a-n in response to demand from arts organisers, this workshop is led by lawyer Nicholas Sharp with support from artist and arts project manager Joseph Young.
3 February, 2-5 pm, Pump House Gallery, Battersea Park, London. www.eventbrite.co.uk
AUE Hustings
As part of the build up to the 2015 general election, this debate hosted by Artists’ Union England (AUE), in collaboration with Artquest, will see cultural spokespersons from across the political spectrum put forward their (and their parties’) views on arts and cultural policy, and on what support will be on offer for artists and arts organisations come the next parliament. Speakers include: Bob and Roberta Smith, artist, parliamentary candidate for Surrey Heath constituency (Independent); Ed Vaizey, MP for Didcot and Wantage, Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy (Conservative); Baroness Jane Bonham-Carter, Spokesperson on DCMS matters in the House of Lords (Liberal Democrats); Chris Bryant, MP for Rhondda, Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport (Labour); and Martin Dobson, parliamentary candidate for Liverpool Riverside, Spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport (Green Party).
11 February, 6-8pm, Chelsea College of Art, London. AUE Members: £3 (plus booking fee); Non-members: £5 (plus booking fee) www.eventbrite.co.uk
Arts Council Wales annual conference: Risking Delight: The Arts as a Resource for Hope
Exploring concerns around equality and diversity within the arts, the Digital R&D Fund and employability and careers amongst other topics, this day-long event unpacks and considers strategic arts policy within Wales.
12 February, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff. www.artscouncilofwales.org.uk
IBT15 Bristol International Festival
For the 6th edition of its cross-media, biennial festival, which has been rebranded as ‘Bristol International Festival’ for 2015, In Between Time celebrates art as a powerful force for change by taking its theme as ‘The Storm’. Produced in collaboration with Arnolfini, highlights include an installation by Fujiko Nakaya which will engulf Peros’ Bridge on Bristol’s harbourside in a veil of fog, and multi-sensory art and club night, where party goers can celebrate their last night on earth.
12-23 February, various venues, Bristol, inbetweentime.co.uk
Whitworth Art Gallery reopens
Valentine’s Day sees Manchester’s Whitworth Gallery (pictured above) reopen its doors, doubling its size following a £15m redevelopment. The University of Manchester-run gallery launches with a major solo show from Cornelia Parker.
14 February, Whitworth Art Gallery, Oxford Road, Manchester. www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk
FutureEverything festival and conference
Manchester’s FutureEverything digital culture festival celebrates its 20th anniversary with a theme that looks back over the last two decades to explore the consequences of new technologies, while also pondering the prospects for the decades to come. With art (including a sound and sculptural installation by the French duo Cod.Act), music and performance all in the mix, there’s also a two-day conference in Manchester Town Hall.
26-28 February, futureeverything.org
Re-imagining Rurality
Spatial practitioners, writers and artists consider the role of creative practice within a rural context, in particular how representations and designs of rural space relate to the rural experience. Participants include Kathrin Bohm, Professor George McKay, Julie Crawshaw and Rosemary Shirley.
27-28 February, University of Westminster, London. www.westminster.ac.uk/expanded-territories
VIDEONALE.15
Centring on the theme, The Call of the Wild, the festival for contemporary video art opens with a programme of artist talks, performances, panels, retrospectives and educational activities.
27 February – 19 April, Bonn, Germany. v15.videonale.org
MARCH
Some Culture a Day, Keeps the Doctor Away – arts and cultural health symposium
This day-long cultural health symposium, run in collaboration with engage Scotland, brings together medical and health practitioners with arts professionals to consider how cultural health can be nurtured. Deveron Arts’ cultural health visitor, Catrin Jeans, will share her resulting fieldwork, seeking input from conference participants and speakers.
3 March, Deveron Arts, Huntly, Aberdeenshire. www.deveron-arts.com/events/culture-health-symposium
International Summit for Learning Disability Artists and their Support Studios
Glasgow-based Project Ability has invited ten supported art studios to attend this three-day International summit which aims to bring artists with learning disabilities together to share their practice, creativity and artistic achievements. For the artists and run by the artists, those attending will direct the content, deliver workshops, lead the discussion and make art. Studios include: Arts Project Australia (Australia), Venture Arts (England), Action Space (England), Inuti (Sweden), KCAT (Ireland), Atelier 5 (Germany), Celf O Gwmpas (Wales), In-Definite Arts (Canada), Kaarisilta (Finland), Nina Haggerty Centre (Canada).
4-6 March, Project Ability, Glasgow. www.project-ability.co.uk
Building a Creative Nation: The Next Decade
Creative & Cultural Skills’ sixth annual conference and tenth anniversary celebration brings together policy makers, educators and arts leaders to debate and help influence the future of the creative sector. Speakers include the Minister of State for Skills and Equalities, Nick Boles MP. Delegates are invited to attend the Creative & Cultural Skills awards and dinner on the evening of 4 March.
5 March, 9am-5pm, The Backstage Centre, High House Production Park, Vellacott Close, Purfleet.
ccskills.org.uk
Gift Horse – fourth plinth commission
The tenth sculpture to be commissioned for Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth is Hans Haacke’s skeletal horse – complete with a live electronic ribbon ticker display of the London Stock Exchange.
Unveiling, 5 March, Trafalgar Square, London
Looking Gift Horse in the Mouth: A Symposium on Hans Haacke
Conversations and presentations from Hans Haacke and a selection of international speakers on the artist’s work and themes around public art. To coincide with the event, a special screening of 4 Decades, a documentary film about Hans Haacke by Michael Blackwood, will take place 6 March at the ICA. The event is co-organised by Jon Bird (Middlesex University) and Luke Skrebowski (University of Cambridge).
7 March, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Carlton House Terrace, London. www.goethe.de
Awkward Bastards symposium
The concept of diversity will be challenged and explored as academics, artists and activists from across the UK and USA come together at a new symposium to rethink ideas around diversity. Presented by disability arts development organisation DASH the symposium will look to challenge the thoughts, ideas and practices surrounding diversity, using disability art as a focal point, and will include a panel of leading disabled artists including Christine Sun Kim, Gill Nicol, Sean Burn and the Vacuum Cleaner discussing the reasons why they feel it is difficult to define themselves as a ‘disabled artist’. Tickets: £50 (£40 concessions).
12 March, mac Birmingham. www.dasharts.org
Abstract Art and Society
This two-day symposium will consider the last 100 years of abstract art and brings together a cohort of eminent speakers including Tate curator Tanya Barson, UCL’s Briony Fer, New York academic Tom McDonough, and Birmingham City University’s director of the Centre for Chinese Visual Arts, Jiang Jiehong. Coinciding with the Whitechapel Gallery exhibition, Adventures of the Black Square, the symposium is organised in collaboration with Centre for the Study of Contemporary Art at UCL.
13-14 March, 11.30am-6pm, Zilkha Auditorium, Whitechapel Gallery, Whitechapel High St, London. www.whitechapelgallery.org/events/abstract-art-society
DARK MATTERS
Artists, astronomers and space engineers collaborate on new public art commissions to be sited throughout Edinburgh over a 12-month period. This partnership between the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Edinburgh University and Edinburgh Printmakers sees new installations by artist David Faithfull and Dr Hermine Schnetler, artist Alastair Clark and Dr Eckhard Sutorius, and artist Mike Inglis and space engineer Martin Black.
21 March-23 May, Edinburgh Printmakers, Union St and Castle Mill Works, Gilmore Park, Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. www.edinburghprintmakers.co.uk
Work and Art: How artists make a living (working title)
This day-long event will see artists present papers exploring their ‘other jobs’ and strategies for making a living. Convened by the post-academic programme, Collaborative Research Group, a project supported by Margate’s CRATE Studio and Project Space and University for the Creative Arts (UCA), Canterbury.
26 March, UCA, Canterbury. www.collaborativeresearchgroup.co.uk
Access All Areas
Pitzhanger Manor House & Gallery has closed for three years to undergo a £10.5m renovation. A special one-off event will take place in March, once the building is fully cleared. Access All Areas invites visitors on a tour of the emptied Manor House prior to work starting on the Sir John Soane-designed Grade I listed building.
28 March, Pitzhanger Manor House & Gallery, Ealing. www.pitzhanger.org.uk
APRIL
Site Festival
Coordinated by Stroud Valley Arts, this festival of artist-led projects takes place at venues across Stroud in April, with open studio events taking place over 2 weekends in May. While the festival has its roots in contemporary visual arts, this year will see a blurring of boundaries with many projects also encompassing music, film, poetry and theatre.
1-30 April 2015, various venues throughout Stroud; Open studios 9-10/16-17 May. sitefestival.org.uk
Supermarket 2015
The international art fair for artist-led spaces and initiatives returns with over 70 exhibitors including AllArtNow from Syria, Peek-a-Boo Gallery from Australia, Qwerty from Germany and Occupy Space from Ireland.
16-19 April, Svarta Huset, Telefonplan, Stockholm. www.supermarketartfair.com
The London Original Print Fair
London’s longest-running art fair celebrates its 30th anniversary and includes an exhibition at the Royal Academy of the Arts of 30 print highlights from the Royal Collection.
23-26 April, Royal Academy of Arts, Piccadilly, London. www.londonprintfair.com
MAY
HOUSE Festival 2015
New site-specific works explore the boundaries of public and private space in this annual visual arts festival across Brighton.
2-24 May, various venues, Brighton. www.housefestival.org
UK General Election
The UK public go to the polls. Among the candidates, two artists are standing as independents: Bob and Roberta Smith is standing on an art education card against Conservative MP Michael Gove in his Surrey Heath constituency, while Gordon Shrigley is turning IMT Gallery into his campaign HQ and standing in the heavily artist-populated constituency of Hackney South and Shoreditch.
7 May
Collect: The International Art Fair for Contemporary Objects
This Crafts Council-organised annual fair brings together international galleries representing artists producing ‘museum quality’ work, as well as featured Project Space artists.
8-11 May, Saatchi Gallery, London. www.craftscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/collect
56th Venice Biennale
The contemporary art world’s oldest biennale returns, tackling themes of global politics and disorder under the curatorship of Okwui Enwezor. Within the national pavilions, Sarah Lucas represents Britain, Helen Sear represents Wales in Venice, Sean Lynch represents Ireland, and Graham Fagan represents Scotland. Previews run 6-8 May.
9 May-22 November, www.labiennale.org
LOOK/15
Now on its third edition, Liverpool’s biennial international photography festival presents a programme of exhibitions, workshops and talks.
15-31 May, lookphotofestival.com
The Open West 2015
Selected by a panel that included Open West curators Lyn Cluer Coleman and Sarah Goodwin, along with artists Neville Gabie and Alastair Gordon, 44 artists will be showing in this year’s west of England-based open submission exhibition. Prizes include The Curators’ Award and the University of Gloucestershire Award, with winners for these to be announced at the opening preview on 15 May.
16 May – 28 June 2015, The Wilson, Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, Cheltenham. theopenwest.org.uk
HOME Manchester opens
Visual art, theatre, film and music projects form part of the grand launch of Manchester’s new international arts centre, HOME. In particular, Sarah Perks and Omar Kholeif curate The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, a group exhibition looking at the dark side of the funfair, will inaugurate the purpose-built exhibition spaces. HOME represents the coming together of Cornerhouse, the city’s longstanding Oxford Street visual arts and film centre, and the city’s Library Theatre Company.
21 May, HOME, Whitworth Street West, Manchester. www.homemcr.org
The International Festival of Glass and British Glass Biennale
With the British Glass Biennale as its centrepiece exhibition, this year’s festival will include a mix of exhibitions, lectures, demonstrations, masterclass sessions and workshops over the last weekend of May at venues across Stourbridge’s Glass Quarter. Now in its sixth edition, the Glass Biennale will include works by 76 artists, competing for a number of prizes including several that are sponsored by The Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London.
International Festival of Glass, 28 – 31 May 2015, various venues, Stourbridge. www.ifg.org.uk
British Glass Biennale 2015, 28 May – 28 June 2015, Glasshouse Arts Centre and Ruskin Glass Centre, Stourbridge. www.biennale.org.uk
JUNE
Developing arts, culture and the creative industries in London: funding, tourism, access and education
Organised by the Policy Forum for London, this conference will explore the future distribution of arts funding and investment in the capital, as well as the future role that London’s cultural institutions can play in supporting growth across the UK. Speakers include: Justine Simons, Head of Culture, Greater London Authority; Chris Gottlieb, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, London & Partners; Joyce Wilson, Area Director, London, Arts Council England; and Nigel Carrington, Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts London.
17 June 2015, Glaziers Hall, London. www.policyforumforlondon.co.uk/
Momentum 8
This year’s Nordic Biennial for Contemporary Art is curated by chief curator of the National Gallery of Iceland, Birta Gudjonsdottir; curator and theorist Jonatan Habib Engqvist; Andquestionmark co-founder Stefanie Hessler; and critic and curator Toke Lykkeberg. Each edition explores differing concepts of ‘Nordic’ and is centred on presenting the work of Scandinavian artists within an international context.
13 June – 27 September, multiple venues, Moss, Norway. www.momentum.no
Green and Golden: A Symposium exploring the Impact of Location on Art Education and the Art School
Organised by Q-Art in collaboration with the Foundation Art and Design Course at Swansea College of Art UWTSD and in partnership with Mission Gallery, this event invites people from across the sector to discuss the theme of location and art education. Questions for discussion will include: What is the role of art school in society? How has this evolved and does location impact on who does or does not attend art school? Speakers include: David Alston (Arts Director, Arts Council Wales), Dr Ian Walsh (Dean, Swansea College of Art), and course leaders and lecturers from arts courses across the UK.
27 June 2015, ALEX Design Exchange, University of Wales, Swansea. q-art.org.uk
JULY
Manchester International Festival
The last biennial festival with founding CEO and director Alex Poots at the helm sees new collaborative performance commissions from, amongst others, Wayne McGregor, Olafur Eliasson, Brian Cox and Kevin Macdonald.
2-19 July, various venues, Manchester. www.mif.co.uk
Manifest
This artist-led visual arts festival will showcase the talent of north west based artists in a series of exhibitions and events across Manchester and Salford to coincide the second weekend of Manchester International Festival. Venues taking part include Manchester Craft and Design Centre, John Ryland’s Library, and the newly opened HOME (see above), while open studios have been coordinated across the to cities for the first time to take place during the festival weekend.
10-12 July 2015, various venues, Manchester and Salford. www.manifestartsfestival.co.uk
International Ceramics Festival
One of the UK’s most important ceramics events, this three-day festival has brought together ceramic artists, working potters, teachers, students, collectors and amateurs since it began in 1987. Stands, exhibitions, demonstrations and lectures attract over 1000 people annually with tickets often selling out in advance.
3-5 July, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth. www.internationalceramicsfestival.org
EVA London 2015
The annual conference for creative practitioners, technologists and scientists, expanding and expounding electronic visualisation technologies in the arts.
7-9 July, British Computer Society, Southampton St, London. www.eva-london.org
Edinburgh Art Festival
Running since 2004, this major festival presents the work of Scottish and international artists and is the key contemporary art event within the Edinburgh Festival City annual programme.
30 July – 30 August, various venues, Edinburgh. www.edinburghartfestival.com
AUGUST
31st Biennial of Graphic Arts
Founded in 1955, this long-running and wide-ranging biennial has a reputation for taking a global and boundary-pushing perspective within its curatorial remit. Organised by Ljubljana’s International Center for Graphic Arts, in collaboration with a number of galleries and partners, the event also has a history of introducing Slovene printmakers to an international audience.
28 August – 3 December, Ljubljana, Slovenia. www.mglc-lj.si
SEPTEMBER
Ars Electronica Festival
Running since 1979, each annual festival is dedicated to a specific theme that highlights innovations and experimental practices within the arts, sciences and technology. The busy programme of symposia, exhibitions, performances and concerts is an important networking platform for the media arts community.
3-7 September, Linz, Austria. www.aec.at/festival
Istanbul Biennial
After the politically tumultuous 2013 edition, Mom, Am I Barbarian? – which saw plans to use Taksim Square and Gezi Park scrapped and protests against the biennial’s sponsors – the 14th Istanbul Biennial, Saltwater: a Theory of Thought Forms, will be curatorially led by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, artistic director of 2012’s Documenta 13.
5 September – 1 November, various venues, Istanbul. www.iksv.org
British Ceramics Biennial 2015
Bringing together new exhibitions and commissions by leading contemporary ceramic artists, the biennial includes a range of events and exhibitions throughout the city, including the China Hall at the famous Spode factory site.
26 September – 8 November, various venues, Stoke-on-Trent. www.britishceramicsbiennial.com
No Boundaries
This State of the Arts event supported by Arts Council England and the British Council focuses on presenting questions and challenging new ideas on the role of arts and culture, finding positive approaches to influence change and supporting the sector’s growth in a world of unknowns. Taking place over two days in Manchester and Bristol, confirmed speakers include Vasif Korton, Turkish Curator and Director of Programmes at Salt, Istanbul, Basma El Husseiny of Action for Hope, Cairo, Egypt, Alice Webb, Director, BBC Children’s, Sam Colt, Head of Arts, Culture and Heritage, Odgers Berndtson, and writer and political commentator Nick Cohen.
29-30 September 2015 HOME Manchester and Watershed Bristol. nb2015.org
OCTOBER
Diffusion: Cardiff International Festival of Photography
Taking its theme as Looking for America, the second Diffusion: Cardiff International Festival of Photography will set out to investigate the status and meaning of the ‘American Dream’ in relation to experience in Wales, contemporary America and the rest of the world. Confirmed artists include US photographers Jeff Brouws, Todd Hido and Will Steacy, UK-based Julian Germain and mobile documentary project The Caravan Gallery, with venues including Ffotogallery, Chapter, g39 and Third Floor Gallery.
1 – 31 October 2015, various venues, Cardiff. www.diffusionfestival.org
Turner Prize 2015
Glasgow’s Tramway will host the 31st Turner Prize exhibition, the first time the prize will have been presented in Scotland. With graduates from Glasgow School of Art reigning over the prize during that last few years – including 2014 winner Duncan Campbell – a home win for the host city looked likely. But this year’s nominated artists – Assemble collective, Bonnie Camplin, Janice Kerbel, and Nicole Wermers – are all London based, although Assemble and Kerbel both have major Glasgow-based projects on their CVs.
1 October 2015 – 4 January 2016, Tramway, Albert Drive, Glasgow. www.tramway.org
Frieze London
Now firmly established as a fixture on London’s arts calendar, Frieze Art Fair returns with a new director, Victoria Siddall, who takes over from Frieze founders Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover while also continuing as director of sister fair, Frieze Masters.
13-17 October, Regent’s Park, London. friezelondon.com
Sluice Art Fair
The artist-led art fair returns for its fourth incarnation, promising a range of performances, actions and alternative booths in celebration of contemporary arts practice.
15-18 October 2015, venue tbc, London. www.sluiceartfair.com
British Art Show 8
Anna Colin, founder of Open School East, and Lydia Yee, curator at Barbican, curate the five-yearly Hayward Touring exhibition. The survey show that introduces the work of a new generation of British artists will open in Leeds and tour to venues in Edinburgh, Norwich and Southampton.
Leeds Art Gallery, The Headrow, Leeds. www.leeds.gov.uk/Leeds-Art-Gallery
NOVEMBER
engage international conference 2015
Details are still to be announced for the annual conference for arts and education professionals from the UK and overseas – except that it’s happening in Glasgow in November.
Date, times & venue tbc, Glasgow. engage.org/conference.aspx
