The Artist Working Group is an experiment in how external factors and structures influence the nature of a group. It is a case study and should become a supportive structure for a group of artists. The group started in December 2017, and meet in unfixed locations around shared meals.
Having moved from Nottingham to London in October 2017, where a culture of artist-led activity was very present, I wanted to see if it was possible to work without a studio, and yet be in dialogue with artist-peers, establishing a sense of community, a sharing of practices as well as parts of our lives and daily routines such as meals. Having worked from artist-studios One Thoresby Street for 5 years, I also realised I had a significantly different relationship to the traditional model of a studio from many of my peers who were making work around me. Works I was making materialised outside of the studio, in accordance to my living environment, to public spaces and to architectures I was in temporary contact with, on residencies for example.
I wanted to try and bring together my interest in a number of models I had read about, MFK’s Manual ‘Do the right thing: A Manual from MFK’ in particular, and an interest in notions of community; how a community functions, thinking particularly about the relationship between architecture, voice and improvisation.
The idea to meet as AWG in one another’s kitchens, in galleries offered to us, in hired multi-purpose spaces, in public parks, in private spaces, to share the experience of occupying these locations temporarily, whilst sharing food and practices.