Creative Conversations

Had a very rewarding meeting at Pervasive Media Studio to discuss my GPS driven abstract animation work. As I am currently thinking of where I could show this work and how this type of work might develop.

Generally what they said is what we know, but its surprising how useful it was to hear it said to me. And though I do a lot of what they talked about, if I wish to develop this work further and explore the possibility of getting it shown I need to re-engage with these basic actions. Which are; Join networks – Make connections – Engage in conversations.

Also they advised me to look at artists who make generative work, especially those I like, and see where they show their work. Than approach these places.

And they thought I should apply for an R&D grant from the Arts Council (I’m not so sure about this one). They felt I could make a strong enough case to help fund this works development.

We also talked about residencies and they mentioned this discussion over on the Guardian website – Making residencies work for both venue and artist. The comments are well worth reading through.

Thanks to an Artist Newsletter bursary that allowed this conversation to happen.

The Abstract Animations

Shallow water was the first one I released, it is made from a GPS recorded walk along the fleet in Dorset. Than Reinventing the landscape is a walk along Portland harbour. Lastly Parallels and Meridians is taken data from a walk that starts at Portland Castle and follows the old railway track up to Portland Heights before coming back down via Cove and back to Portland Castle.

Finally one of our publiciy funded arts organisation agreed to speak to me with my trusty recorder!

Thanks to Jack Lewis at the John Hansard Gallery for engaging me in conversations around audiences and contemporary art.

Still looking for others in the South West. I was keen to speak to the Spacex gallery in Exeter, but after hearing nothing for awhile, they’ve now said no.

In putting together my next series of Creative Conversations it has been really interesting who will go on the record and talk to me with my recorder between us. Again I find it is the artists who are happy to share and discuss things, while publicly funded spaces and NPA’s very unlikely to go on record.

I can sort of understand that I’m just an individual with a limited following to my shows. I’m not the BBC or local radio, but still I’d expected them to embrace any interest in what they are up to. If I go to some contemporary art gallery and on a good day I maybe see two other people in the exhibition, should they not be embracing any interested parties who wish to engage with them?

Though I can understand that their curators time is limited, they probably have plenty of more pressing tasks to do than to talk to some random individual like myself.

I have a couple of open questions;

1. Is it unreasonable for me to expect publicly funded bodies, like galleries and NPAs, to go on the record with me?

2. should publicly funded bodies be much more transparent with their evaluations?

i.e. they have to do a report to the arts council, should these reports all be freely available for us to read (maybe they are and I just haven’t found them yet). Or would this openness close down their reports, make them more constrictive.

As series 2 of my Creative Conversations draws to a close on soundArt radioFM I have started planning series 3!

I hope you have had a chance to listen to these shows. As I feel they are starting to be a valuable archive of the changing art world in Dorset. Personally it was really rewarding for me to go back and listen to conversations I’d had during the summer of 2012. It was also interesting hearing the different experiences people had of this Olympic period.

For this new series I’m looking to travel outside Dorset. I wish to explore a number of issues I have been grappling with in my practice and also as an art viewer. Specifically in the next series I’d like to hear about;

+ installations, especially in regard to sonic interventions. Also to discuss performance related work.

+ uses of digital technology in regard to gaining a wider audience for the work and in possible use of installations.

+ most importantly to discuss staging contemporary art events in a rural context. Of ways to attract audiences to out of the way places. This is an ongoing key question that was touched on in series 2 by some of the people I spoke to.

A few people I’ve approached so far have agreed going on record. These are;

+ Martin Franklin at Bracknell Arts Centre – to discuss their experiments in live streaming & use of internet/new technology as a way to connect with an audience.

+ Helen Sloan, Director of SCAN

+ Dr Felicity Ford – to discuss her work at Oxford Brookes University and methods / strategies for recording everyday life in sound.

I’m planning on doing 10 episodes in this series and if you know of anyone who you feel I should be talking to and who’d be up to going on record please pass this onto them. I am particular keen on speaking to John Hansard Gallery (a contact is currently following this up for me) and spacex in Exeter. If any of you have any contacts here I’d welcome the introduction.

currently chasing up contacts and leads to aid my investigative conversations around showing contemporary art in rural locations.

Places that don’t have an established gallery space, and thus an established audience. Though these can be exciting and challenging places to exhibit work, they have a huge host of issues to overcome.

So I’m seeking out people who have attempted to do this and see what they have learnt and what they’d do differently next time. And people, and gallery spaces, that are exploring the potential that new technology gives us, in particularly the use of live streaming to gain access to a global audience and thus boost your rural audience figures.

With arts council funding needing value for money, which i suppose means high audience figures, is this streaming of content, of the live broadcasting of the artworks, the way to go for art in out of the way places?