COPY

A very productive sunday meeting! We have refined our planned activity for the next 18 months, subject to some tidying up. We have also ideantified some points uregntly in need of research, which will be helped by the a-n bursary. Projects cover our three main aims:

Network / Platform / Dialogue.

More details to follow…

Part of our activity includes developing COPY, which aims to explore the boundaries of critical and experimental art writing through publishing submissions of writing as or around art practice, and page based works with a critical / textual element.

COPY was launched at The Plaza Principle, an exhibition that took place within the partially vacant 1980s Leeds Shopping Plaza scheduled for demolition. In response to this context, the first edition of COPY was based around notions of the understudy or stand in – the examined, inquired or performed; the temporary, theoretical or illusory. You can see documentation of COPY at The Plaza Principle here…http://criticalwritingcollective.wordpress.com/projects/copy/

We intend to use our bursary to meet other groups working in the fields of self publishing and explore writing as art practice, as well as organisations that provide a platform for reviews and critical texts online. Some of the discussion will need to be practical – we need to conduct more research into the print and design options that would best suit us as well as better understand efficient editing, commissioning and administrative processes.

An Introduction…

Critical Writing Collective aims to promote critical discussion around regional contemporary art and performance activity, create a platform for experimental art writing and support artists and writers through events, publications, projects, opportunities and an open network of contacts.

The collective came about after we met while taking part in a writing project in Berlin, organised by Open Dialogues. Being from Leeds and Sheffield, we noticed a lack of space for dialogue around activity in our respective and neighbouring cities and connections across the region.

Over six meetings we met with artists, writers, curators, educators and representatives of organisations and institutions, and used the this research to develop a course of action for the collective.Since this time we have established stronger connections, taken part in rlevant projects, innitiated our own projects and produced a pilot publication, and are now developing plans for the year ahead.

We’ll be updating very soon with details of our travels!

Until then you might want to watch this video in which Charlotte talks about the collective with Axis.