This week I’m getting my head down trying to attend to some of the ‘audience development’ issues that Jo and Katie were keen that I should address. Of course, it’s taking much longer than I imagined and the new Kalender, which is also crying out for attention, is so far no more than a (faint) glimmer in the background.
Anyway, I’ve written to three local history societies (emphasising that this is contemporary art with a historical slant rather than history per se: I’m sure they’d have something to say about my accuracy if I presented my work as ‘fact’!). Also, I’ve written a ‘half-way through the residency’ press release which seems a bit thin on substance to me, but you never know I suppose if real news is thin on the ground right now. I seem to remember that, for this reason, the Arts Council guidance booklet advises artists to issue frequent press releases and resist the feeling that their story is not newsworthy just because there’s little take-up the first time round – or perhaps I’m just imagining this!
Putting Kalender together feels much more creative than what I’m doing right now, but I recognise the necessity of reaching out to a grass-roots audience if my ambition is to be taken on by publicly-funded galleries.
Yesterday I received an email from OUTPOST – the Norwich-based artist-run organisation I belong to – advertising a performance this evening: my friend Anna and her husband Laurence (Townley & Bradby) will be scooping up stray strands of tobacco from a computer keyboard, making them into a roll-up and smoking it. I’m always interested to hear what Anna and Laurence are up to and I know I’d enjoy the performance, but I find myself wondering how far out of step with cool contemporary practice my own concerns/issues/passions/obsessions may be, and whether this matters or not. In the end, I suppose it doesn’t matter whether it matters – it’s just what I do and I’m going to keep doing it.
On the other side of things, I’ve also received an email from an MA student in the Department of World Art Studies and Museology at the University of East Anglia. Amandine is researching ‘Art and Religion in Norfolk’ and is looking to interview contemporary practitioners working within this area with a view to an exhibition next year as the outcome of a partnership between her Department and Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service. This could be interesting and I’m hoping to meet her sometime next week.
imogenashwin[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk
