The blog came to a bit a stand still at the end of October. After a bit of a break I have missed doing the writing and will be writing again about events, research, work and future associated projects.
The exhibition of the residency work at Hethel was on for 3 months and I took the work down just before Christmas. The feedback was good. I’m still in the process of processing all that the residency was and where my practice and research is taking me.
On the 2nd February I went to Tate Archive to look again at the un-catalogued Artist Placement Group documents as preparation for an event with firstiste in Colchester. I looked at the letters between Barbara Steveni (the founder member of APG) and industry bosses, negotiating meetings and placements for a range of artists. I also read a feasibility study where an artist reflection upon what might be possible within a host organisation. I also looked at some of the correspondence between Barbara and Tony Benn who was at the time Minister of Technology.
Beyond the Studio: Context and Commerce was developed with firstiste as part of their artist support programme. For the event (which took place on the 9th February) I proposed an artist talk about the digital making project followed by an in conversation event with Barbara Steveni. I originally suggested to Barbara that she could converse with anyone of her choosing but she suggested that we be in conversation which we did after she gave an overview of APG, O+ I and her current work I am an archive. As part of her presentation she showed a great clip of her in conversation with Tony Benn, one of the most memorable aspects was where Tony Benn talked about how we are all just people, with a range of attributes in different quantities which allows people from seemingly different professions to work alongside one another.
The links between Barbara’s work with APG and my digital making residency were clear. The historical context of what APG was trying to achieve (and did achieve) by negotiating an open brief was inspirational. The audience was made up of mainly artists but I was very pleased to see Derek Hillyard whom I worked with at Hethel there also.
The event went so well it left me on a real high, not quite knowing what to do next apart from getting the work ready for my next exhibition at Norwich Arts Centre. The work was installed yesterday and the opening is on Saturday and includes the screening of a film from the British Documentary Movement
New Industrial Space 26th February 2011 – Film Screenings and Artist talk 2-4pm. Exhibition continues to 26th March.
