I will be installing an inter-active sound installation for the forthcoming Bridge of Allan Contemporary Art Fair on November 1 called “Tweet a Sound”.
Met up with the director of the Fair, Amy Drewery, this afternoon to discuss final arrangements.
Hope for lots of participation in order to create a unique story of the day.
What kind of studio space do artists require?
Traditionally the answer was simple: a big, airy space with north facing windows and affordable.
WASPS, a Scottish based charity, aim to provide such spaces and they were in Stirling last week doing a presentation.
Chris of WASPS pointed out that the kind of space artists require these days is changing.
One new interesting venture is their South Block in Glasgow, a new studio complex with 64 studios as well as facilities for hot-desking and commercial offices too.
A more radical approach is the The Bothy Project , an innovative private enterprise that offers artists the chance to make work in remote corners of the Scottish landscape from forests to an isolated Hebridian island.
And then there is the other extreme-, which I inhabited today- a virtual space shared with photographers on a global project. www.blipfoto.com/libra
So when we talk of space for artists we have to start thinking outside the box.
Ann Shaw is an artist/writer based in Scotland working in new media. As a journalist she campaigned and wrote about many social and medical issues. She is a feminist and founder member of Falkirk Womens Aid, active in the trades union movement and former member of National Union of Journalists Equality Working Party, and founder member of Forth Valley Open Studios.
